Health Topics A-Z

What Are the Symptoms?

Symptoms vary widely, depending on the part of the brain affected by the electrical misfiring. If a very small part of the brain is affected, you might sense only an odd smell or taste. In other cases you could have hallucinations, convulsions, or lose consciousness.

• Generalized Tonic-Clonic: Sometimes preceded by an aura (awareness of a strange odor, taste, or vision); loss of consciousness and a fall; muscle rigidity (stiffness), followed by convulsions (jerking movements of the arms and legs); and possible loss of bladder control or tongue biting.  After regaining consciousness, the person may feel confused and fall asleep.
• Generalized Absence: Loss of consciousness and blank stare or eyelid fluttering for 10 to 30 seconds; person resumes activity immediately after the seizure and feels well.
• Simple Partial: Involuntary movements, sensations, or psychic experiences such as awareness of a smell or a sense of déjà vu lasting several seconds; no loss of consciousness.
• Complex Partial: Initial disorientation followed by strange movements of the arms or legs or odd vocalizations for one to three minutes; loss of consciousness.
• Jacksonian: Muscle twitching begins in a single area and then progresses, for example from the hand to the arm.
• Febrile: Preceded by fever in children younger than 5. These seizures can be very brief tonic-clonic type seizures or partial seizures lasting more than 15 minutes. Most children who have a fever-induced seizure never experience a second seizure.
• Infantile Spasms (West Syndrome): Bending of limbs, neck and torso while lying down, lasting just a few seconds; may occur repeatedly during a single day. Usually only strike children younger than 3, often those with developmental delays or disabilities.

Call Your Doctor If:

• Seizures occur in a continuous series, a condition known as status epilepticus. This is a rare but life-threatening event that requires immediate medical attention.
• You or someone without a prior history of epilepsy experiences a seizure for the first time. You need a doctor's diagnosis: The cause also could be poisoning, stroke, or drug overdose.  In feverish infants, convulsions could be a sign of meningitis. Get medical help immediately.