What happens when someone has a seizure?

You may have tremors (shaking movements), twitching or jerking movements that you can’t control. This could happen on one or both sides of your face, arms, legs or your whole body. It could start in one area and then spread to other areas, or it could stay in one place.

What can cause a seizure?

Anything that interrupts the normal connections between nerve cells in the brain can cause a seizure. This includes a high fever, high or low blood sugar, alcohol or medicine withdrawal, or a brain concussion. But when a person has 2 or more seizures with no known cause, this is diagnosed as epilepsy.

How do you spell someone having a seizure?

The term “seizure” is often used interchangeably with “convulsion.” During convulsions a person has uncontrollable shaking that is rapid and rhythmic, with the muscles contracting and relaxing repeatedly. There are many different types of seizures.

What is the best definition of seizure?

A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain. It can cause changes in your behavior, movements or feelings, and in levels of consciousness.

Can stress cause a seizure?

Emotional stress also can lead to seizures. Emotional stress is usually related to a situation or event that has personal meaning to you. It may be a situation in which you feel a loss of control. In particular, the kind of emotional stress that leads to most seizures is worry or fear.

Is having a seizure painful?

In general, the actual experience of having a seizure does not hurt. Pain during seizures is rare . Some types of seizures make you lose consciousness.

How long does it take to recover from a seizure?

Some people recover immediately while others may take minutes to hours to feel like their usual self. The type of seizure, as well as what part of the brain the seizure impacts, affects the recovery period – how long it may last and what may occur during it.

Can seizures cause death?

The short answer is yes, but while possible, death from epilepsy is also rare. When you hear of someone dying from a seizure, you might assume the person fell and hit their head. This can happen. SUDEP, however, isn’t caused by injury or drowning.

Do people remember seizures?

In focal aware seizures (FAS), previously called simple partial seizures, the person is conscious (aware and alert) and will usually know that something is happening and will remember the seizure afterwards. Some people find their focal aware seizures hard to put into words.

Can you hear when you have a seizure?

During a focal impaired-awareness seizure, you may not be able to move, talk, or hear as you did before. You may also not be able to remember the event. Focal impaired-awareness seizures can last for up to 2 minutes .

Should you sleep after a seizure?

After the seizure: they may feel tired and want to sleep. It might be helpful to remind them where they are. stay with them until they recover and can safely return to what they had been doing before.

Can you stop breathing during a seizure?

During a tonic-clonic or grand mal seizure (think convulsive seizure), it may look like the person has stopped breathing. This is because the chest muscles tighten during the tonic or “stiffening” part of seizure.

What do mini seizures look like?

Absence seizures involve brief, sudden lapses of consciousness. They’re more common in children than in adults. Someone having an absence seizure may look like he or she is staring blankly into space for a few seconds. Then, there is a quick return to a normal level of alertness.

What seizures look like?

Seizures symptoms vary and can include a sudden change in awareness or full loss of consciousness, unusual sensations or thoughts, involuntary twitching or stiffness in the body or severe stiffening and limb shaking with loss of consciousness (a convulsion.)

Can your heart stop during a seizure?

The electrical activity in the brain during a seizure can also change our pulse and usually causes an increase in heart rate. However, during some seizures, the heart can slow or even stop temporarily, which is referred to as ictal asystole.

Why do you bite your tongue during a seizure?

Nighttime seizures are a common cause of tongue biting. Those with epilepsy lose control of their bodies during a seizure. This may cause them to unconsciously bite down on their tongue. Usually, bites occur on the tip and sides of the tongue.

When should you go to the hospital for a seizure?

If you see someone who is having an epileptic seizure, you should call an ambulance or 911 if: The seizure lasts more than five minutes. Another seizure starts right after the first. The person can’t be awakened after the movements have stopped.

Can you survive a seizure alone?

By taking care of your overall well-being and making lifestyle changes to lower the risk of seizure, you can live safely and independently with epilepsy.

Are seizures curable?

Is there a cure for epilepsy? There’s no cure for epilepsy, but early treatment can make a big difference. Uncontrolled or prolonged seizures can lead to brain damage. Epilepsy also raises the risk of sudden unexplained death.

Why do seizures happen during sleep?

It’s believed that sleep seizures are triggered by changes in the electrical activity in your brain during certain stages of sleeping and waking. Nighttime seizures occur most often in the early morning around 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. and occur least often shortly after falling asleep.

What do you do when someone is having a seizure while sleeping?

First Aid
  • Keep other people out of the way.
  • Clear hard or sharp objects away from the person.
  • Don’t try to hold them down or stop the movements.
  • Place them on their side, to help keep their airway clear.
  • Look at your watch at the start of the seizure, to time its length.
  • Don’t put anything in their mouth.

Are seizures common before death?

The incidence of seizures in dying patients is unknown, and while likely uncommon, they can cause tremendous distress to patients and families.