What Are Three Major Groups of Seizures?
![Seizures](https://images.medicinenet.com/images/mobile/hp_promo/silent-seizures.jpg?output-quality=75)
Seizures occur when there is a sudden surge of abnormal electrical activity in the brain that usually affects how a person appears or acts for a short time.
There are 3 major groups of seizures:
- Generalized onset seizures
- Affect both sides of the brain at the same time
- Includes seizure types like tonic-clonic, absence, or atonic
- Focal onset seizures
- Focal seizures can start in one area or in one side of the brain
- Focal onset aware seizures occur when a person is awake and aware during a seizure (formerly called simple partial seizure)
- Focal onset impaired awareness seizures occur when a person is confused or awareness is affected during a focal seizure (formerly called a complex partial seizure)
- Unknown onset seizures
- Occur when the beginning of a seizure is not known, such as if it’s not witnessed by anyone
- An unknown onset seizure may later be diagnosed as a focal or generalized seizure
What Are Symptoms of Seizures?
Many different symptoms happen during a seizure. The new classification separates them into groups that involve movement.
Symptoms of generalized onset seizures include:
- Motor symptoms
- Sustained rhythmical jerking movements (clonic)
- Muscle weakness or limpness (atonic)
- Tense or rigid muscles (tonic)
- Brief muscle twitching (myoclonus)
- Epileptic spasms (body flexes and extends repeatedly)
- Non-motor symptoms (absence seizures)
- Staring spells
- Brief twitches that can affect a specific body part or just the eyelids
Symptoms of focal onset seizures include:
- Motor symptoms
- Jerking (clonic)
- Muscle weakness or limpness (atonic)
- Tense or rigid muscles (tonic)
- Brief muscle twitching (myoclonus)
- Epileptic spasms (body flexes and extends repeatedly)
- Repeated automatic movements (automatisms), such as clapping or rubbing of hands, lip-smacking, chewing, or running
- Non-motor symptoms
- Changes in sensation
- Mood changes
- Changes in thinking or cognition
- Changes in autonomic functions (such as gastrointestinal sensations, waves of heat or cold, goosebumps, heart racing, etc.)
- Lack of movement (behavior arrest)
Symptoms of focal onset seizures include:
- Motor seizures: either tonic-clonic or epileptic spasms
- Non-motor seizures: behavior arrest
What Causes Seizures?
Causes of seizures can vary by age.
Causes of seizures in newborns include:
- Malformations of the brain
- Lack of oxygen during birth
- Low levels of blood sugar, blood calcium, blood magnesium or other electrolyte problems
- Problems with metabolism
- Intracranial bleeding
- Maternal drug use
Causes of seizures in infants and young children include:
- Infections
- Fever (febrile seizures)
- Brain tumor (rarely)
Causes of seizures in children and adults include:
- Congenital conditions
- Down's syndrome
- Angelman's syndrome
- Tuberous sclerosis
- Neurofibromatosis
- Genetics
- Head trauma
- Progressive brain disease (rare)
Causes of seizures in seniors include:
- Stroke
- Alzheimer's disease
- Trauma
Common triggers that may precipitate seizures include:
- Fever or illness
- Lack of sleep
- Stress
- Flashing bright lights or patterns
- Alcohol or drug use
- Certain foods
- Excess caffeine
- Certain times of day or night
- Menstrual cycle in women or other hormonal changes
- Poor diet
- Low blood sugar
- Certain medications
How Are Seizures Diagnosed?
Tests used to diagnose the cause of seizures include:
- Electroencephalogram (EEG) checks for brain wave patterns consistent with seizure activity
- Blood tests to check for certain medical disorders
- Brain imaging to look for abnormal areas such as a tumor or infection
- X-ray of the brain
- Computerized tomography (CT) scan
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan
- Lumbar puncture (also called a spinal tap)
- Electrocardiogram (EKG) to check the heart
- Sleep testing
What Is the Treatment for Seizures?
Treatment for seizures usually involves medicines called anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs), such as:
- Brivaracetam
- Cannabidiol oral solution (Epidiolex)
- Carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Epitol, Tegretol, Tegretol XR
- Cenobamate (Xcopri)
- Clobazam (Onfi, Sympazan)
- Clonazepam (Epitril, Klonopin, Rivotril)
- Diazepam nasal
- Diazepam rectal (Diastat)
- Divalproex sodium (Depacon, Depakote, Depakote ER, Epival)
- Eslicarbazepine Acetate (Aptiom)
- Ethosuximide (Zarontin)
- Ezogabine (Potiga)
- Felbamate (Felbatol)
- Fenfluramine
- Gabapentin (Neurontin)
- Lacosamide (Vimpat)
- Lamotrigine (Lamictal)
- Levetiracetam (Keppra, Keppra XR, Roweepra)
- Lorazepam (Ativan)
- Midazolam nasal (Nayzilam)
- Oxcarbazepine (Oxtellar XR, Trileptal)
- Perampanel (Fycompa)
- Phenobarbital
- Phenytoin (Dilantin, Epanutin, Phenytek)
- Pregabalin (Lyrica)
- Primidone (Mysoline)
- Rufinamide (Banzel, Inovalon)
- Stiripentol (Diacomit)
- Tiagabine hydrochloride (Gabitril)
- Topiramate (Topamax, Qudexy XR, Trokendi XR)
- Valproic Acid (Convulex, Depakene, Depakine, Orfiril, Valporal, Valprosid)
- Vigabatrin (Sabril)
- Zonisamide (Zonegran)
Other treatments for seizures include:
- Diet therapy, including the ketogenic diet
- Epilepsy surgery
- Removal of a small part of the brain that's causing the seizures
- Implantation of a small electrical device inside the body to help control seizures
Health Solutions From Our Sponsors
From ![WebMD Logo](https://images.medicinenet.com/images/promo/logo_webmd.gif)
Brain & Nervous Resources
Featured Centers
Health Solutions From Our Sponsors
https://www.epilepsy.com/