Epilepsy - seizure types

N.B. There is a reader friendly version at the bottom of this post (shorter and in bullet point form) 

Hi,

So today I'll talk a bit about epilepsy and the different types of seizures out there.  I think when most people envisage a person with epilepsy, they envisage someone falling on the floor and shaking and jerking.  This is only one form of seizure, and by far not the most common (or at least not by the time medication is on board as many people with these seizures - tonic clonic - successfully have their seizures completely controlled).

Other seizures where people will fall to the floor include Tonic and Atonic.  In tonic seizures and person will go stiff like a plank of wood and generally fall backwards to the ground.  

In atonic seizures (which I occasionally get), nearly the opposite happens - a person will go floppy and will fall forwards to the ground.  They are over very quickly and the person gets up almost straight away most of the time.

There are also Clonic seizures and Myoclonic seizures.  Clonic seizures are basically the jerking and thrashing that you see in the tonic clonic seizures (tonic clonic being a combination of the 2 - going stiff and falling over, then the jerking and thrashing).

And myoclonic seizures are clonic seizures, but the person does not loose consciousness.

Leading on from this, there are absence seizures where a person may stare blankly off into space for a time.

Then there are focal seizures - focal aware and focal impaired.  These are the 2 I mainly have.  So focal aware are basically a sensation or aura the person gets.  And this can come in many many forms.  For me it feels like that feeling of adrenaline you get in the pit of your stomach when you're about to do something exciting or terrifying - only it's in my head.  So these would probably be really hard to spot in a person.

For focal impaired seizures, with these, people still get a sensation, but they also loose an amount of awareness / consciousness.  So I'll have a small gap in time although normally outwardly to someone who doesn't know me well, I'll still seem fine as I generally keep doing whatever it is I'm doing unless it's an extremely large one.

That's all for today.  Please ask if you have questions or share any comments.

Easy read version

- Tonic Clonic seizure - people will go stiff and fall over (tonic), then jerk and thrash (clonic)

- Tonic seizure - people will go stiff and generally fall backwards to the ground

- Atonic seizure - people will go floppy and will fall forwards to the ground.  They are normally over very quickly and the person gets up almost straight away.

- Clonic seizures - people jerk and thrash

- Myoclonic seizures - clonic seizures, but the person does not loose consciousness

- Absence seizures - people may stare blankly off into space 

- Focal aware - people get a sensation or aura.  They come in many forms and are often very hard to spot as the person is fully aware.

- Focal impaired - people get the same sensation as a focal aware, but also loose an amount of awareness / consciousness.  They may still be difficult to spot.