What is epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures. These seizures result from abnormal electrical activity in the brain and can manifest in a variety of ways, ranging from brief lapses of attention to severe and prolonged convulsions.
https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/epilepsy-and-seizures
What are seizures?
Seizures can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. They can have many causes, including brain injury, toxins, medical conditions, or reasons that remain unclear. The nature and intensity of seizures can vary widely. Not all seizures involve violent convulsions; some can be much more subtle, with symptoms like a brief lapse in attention or muscle twitches.
A seizure is commonly characterized as an abrupt change in behavior due to a momentary shift in the brain's electrical operations. Under regular circumstances, the brain emits steady, minute electrical impulses that maintain a systematic arrangement. These impulses navigate through neurons — the brain's network of nerve cells — and extend throughout the body via chemical couriers termed neurotransmitters.
In conditions like epilepsy, the brain's electrical rhythms can become irregular, leading to frequent seizures. For those undergoing seizures, the standard electrical sequence is interfered with by sudden, synchronized electrical bursts, which can momentarily influence their alertness, physical movements, or perceptions.
https://www.aans.org/en/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Epilepsy
Common Types of Seizures and Their Symptoms:
1. Generalized Seizures: Affect both hemispheres of the brain.
Absence Seizures (formerly Petit Mal): Characterized by brief lapses of consciousness where the individual may appear to be staring or daydreaming.
Tonic Seizures: In a tonic seizure, muscles rigidly tense, causing breathing difficulties and potential unconsciousness.
Atonic Seizures: Lead to a loss of muscle control, which can cause the individual to suddenly collapse.
Myoclonic Seizures: Result in sudden and brief jerks or twitches of the muscles.
Clonic Seizures: Characterized by repeated jerky muscle movements.
Tonic-Clonic Seizures (formerly Grand Mal): Combination of the Tonic and clonic seizures. These seizures cause a person to lose consciousness, fall, and experience muscle stiffening (tonic phase) followed by jerking movements (clonic phase).
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/epilepsy/generalized-seizures
2. Partial or Focal Seizures: Originate in a specific part of the brain.
Simple Focal Seizures: Also known as Auras, this type of seizure starts in a specific area of the brain and can spread from there. They maintain consciousness and fall into four categories: Motor (causing muscle jerks in specific body parts), Sensory (leading to sensory disturbances like hallucinations), Autonomic (affecting involuntary functions like heart rhythm), and Psychic (evoking emotions or déjà vu).
Complex Focal Seizures: Loss of consciousness or awareness, can lead to blank staring or automatisms like repetitive lip-smacking or blinking.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/epilepsy/focal-seizures
3. Unkown onset seizures:
Occurs when the seizure's start is undetermined, such as unwitnessed nighttime events or in those living alone.
