Most people understand that there are multiple types of epileptic seizures. The best known variety–and certainly the most spectacular–is often termed “grand mal,” which is French for “major illness.” In these attacks the patients lose consciousness, fall to the ground and experience convulsive jerking of their bodies that lasts for 1-2 minutes before subsiding. These attacks are more properly termed tonic-clonic seizures.

A less dramatic form of epilepsy also involves loss of consciousness, but without a fall to the ground or convulsive movements. These attacks are aptly called “staring spells” because the patients stop what they’re doing, lose eye-contact with other people, and appear to stare into space. If spoken to during attacks, the patients do not respond.

What is often under-appreciated is that more than one kind of epileptic attack can take the form of a staring spell. And the differences between them can be crucial in understanding the underlying causes as well as the best treatments.

Staring-spell seizures are often lumped together in public awareness under the heading of “petit mal” epilepsy. Petit mal is French for “minor illness,” reflecting their more subtle appearance. However, using current terminology, there are two main kinds of staring-spell attacks–absence seizures and partial-complex seizures. Absence attacks correspond to the original “petit mal” designation, while partial-complex seizures were once called “psychomotor seizures” and “temporal lobe epilepsy.” The “temporal lobe” label reflects the fact that most seizures of this kind emanate from one of the two temporal lobes, the portions of the brain nearest the tops of the ears.

Although both absence and partial-complex seizures involve staring and unresponsiveness, that’s where the similarities end. The attacks differ in the following ways: usual ages of onset duration symptoms recalled by the patients movements or behaviors during the attacks after-effects electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns underlying causes most effective treatments

Absence seizures begin in childhood, and often in the pre-school years. They usually disappear by the time the individuals who have them reach their twenties. Partial complex seizures can begin in either childhood or adulthood, including late in life. So if a middle-aged person has staring-spell seizures, they are almost always of the partial-complex type.

The duration of the attacks also separates the two kinds of seizures. Absence seizures are shorter. Most of them end within 10 seconds, and they almost never continue for 30 seconds. In contrast, partial-complex seizures are longer than 30 seconds, and typically last 2-3 minutes.

Most children with absence seizures are unaware of having them, though might notice a loss of time. The relative lack of symptoms in absence seizures, along with their brevity, can cause them to be overlooked. Teachers, noticing episodic loss of eye-contact, are often the first to detect them. But children and adults experiencing partial-complex seizures often recognize them due to specific, recurrent–and often complex–symptoms. One person with partial-complex seizures might notice a sudden, particular odor that no one else can smell. Another patient might experience a sudden sense of familiarity with their surroundings, a perception that they had been there before (also known as “d

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder occurring most frequently in adolescents and the elderly. It can also occur in patients that have recently had or recovered from brain surgery. Epilepsy is neurological in nature and causes periodic seizures, which reflect brain over activity. Unfortunately due to the wide range of triggers, most people affected by this acute condition discover only after a seizure, the neurological hyperactivity.

Though epilepsy is not yet curable, it can be remedied through usage of antiepileptics. Despite that, some symptoms of epilepsy last for a period of time because they are stage related like those occurring in children. All in all, when choosing epileptic medication, ensure it is only prescribed by a certified medical practitioner. There are two types of epileptic seizures which are distinguished by whether the victim is conscious or unconscious. A victim is conscious if they are aware and have the ability to respond.

This is because the epileptic brain activity is isolated to a portion of the brain. An unconscious victim, however loses control as the entire brain is essentially trapped in the hyperactivity and can cause anywhere from unresponsive staring to uncontrollable jerking of limbs. These two types of epilepsy are properly referred to as localized (isolated portions of the brain) and generalized (entire brain affected by hyperactivity) seizures; generalized seizures being more severe.

Some causes associated with epilepsy in children are usually brain tumors, ailments, or severe head injury. Other symptoms in older children, adults, and elderly can even be related to narcotic and alcohol usage as well as irregular central nervous systems and altered genes. The most important thing is to understand what is occurring if you are a sufferer. Diagnosis and proper medication are two keys to living with epilepsy.

When you think about epilepsy, you may think of it as a single disorder. However, it is a group of related disorders that are characterized by recurrent seizures. Depending on the type of epilepsy involved, different types of them can occur. Generalized seizures can cause brief losses of consciousness or long periods of unconsciousness. There are sub-categories of generalized disorder for it and they include absence, atonic, myoclonic and generalized tonic-clonic. Medications are prescribed to help treat seizures and other symptoms associated with epilepsy. Surgery can be performed, but is considered a last resort, when less invasive treatments have failed.

There are several known and unknown causes of epilepsy; head trauma being an important known cause of epilepsy and seizures. Although it is commonly accepted that a prior injury can cause epilepsy, there is no agreement on what type or how extensive that injury must be. It is known however, that the risk for generalized seizures and epilepsy increases substantially if there are penetrating or open wounds present.

They can be further subdivided into four categories according to the nature of the medical symptoms: motor, sensory, autonomic and psychological. Motor symptoms can include movements such as stiffening and jerking. This is the type most people associate with epilepsy and is sometimes called generalized tonic-clonic seizures or grand mal epilepsy. This disorder affects most, if not all of the brain at once.

Its symptoms will vary, depending from where in the brain they originate. In most cases, a person with epilepsy will typically have the same type of episode each time. This means that the symptoms will tend to be very similar from episode to episode. However, there are some people who have many different types of epileptic seizures, with varied symptoms each time.

There are effective treatments available for dealing with the medical symptoms of epilepsy and seizure disorders. One treatment is surgical therapy or intervention. With recent advances in diagnostic technology and surgical practices, an increase in the use of surgical treatment for epilepsy has been noted. However, surgery is usually the last option, when medications have been tried and have failed to control symptoms.

There are alternative treatments available for those who don’t want to ingest medications to treat generalized seizures. Biofeedback, diet control and vitamins are just a few treatments currently being used. While several alternative treatments are widely promoted for epilepsy, their effectiveness is mostly unproven. Over a dozen medications are currently on the market and approved to treat epilepsy. As with any medication, each one has benefits and side effects. Different medications are appropriate for different types of epileptic seizure episodes.