March 19, 2014
An aura or warning is the first symptom of a seizure and is considered part of the seizure. Often the aura is an indescribable feeling. Other times it’s easy to recognize and may be a change in feeling, sensation, thought, or behavior that is similar each time a seizure occurs.
The aura can also occur alone and may be called a focal onset aware seizure, simple partial seizure or partial seizure without change in awareness.
An aura can occur before a change in awareness or consciousness.
Yet, many people have no aura or warning; the seizure starts with a loss of consciousness or awareness.
Common symptoms before a seizure:
Awareness, Sensory, Emotional or Thought Changes:
Déjà vu (a feeling that a person, place or thing is familiar, but you've never experienced it before)
Jamais vu (feeling that a person, place or thing is new or unfamiliar, but it's not)
Smells
Sounds
Tastes
Visual loss or blurring
“Strange” feelings
Fear/panic (often negative or scary feelings)
Pleasant feelings
Racing thoughts
Physical Changes:
Dizzy or lightheaded
Headache
Nausea or other stomach feelings (often a rising feeling͞ from the stߋmach to the thr*at)
Numbness or tingling in part of the body
Middle:
The middle of a seizure is often called the ictal phase. It’s the perıod of time from the first symptoms (including an aura) to the end of the seizure activity, This correlates with the electrical seizure activity in the brain. Sometimes the visible symptoms last longer than the seizure activity on an EEG. This is because some of the visible symptoms may be aftereffects.
Common symptoms during a seizure.
Awareness, Sensory, Emotional or Thought Changes:
Loss of awareness/explicit memory (often called “black out”)
Confused, feeling spacey
Periods of forgetfulness or memory lapses
Distracted, daydreaming
Loss of cønsciøusness, unconscious, or “pass1ng out”
Unable to hear
Sounds may be strange or different
Unusual smells (often bad smells like burning rubber)
Unusual tastes
Loss of vision or unable to see
Blurry vision
Flashing lights
Formed visual hallvcin4tions (objects or things are seen that aren’t really there)
Numbness, tingling, or electric shockıng like feeling in bødy, arm or leg
Out of body sensations
Feeling detached
Déjà vu or jamais vu
Body parts feels or looks different
Feeling of paпic, feariпg, impending doom (intense feeling that something bad is going to happen)
Physical Changes:
Difficulty talking (may stop talking, make nonsense or garbled sounds, keep talking or speech may not make sense)
Unable to swallow, drooling
Repeated blinking of eyes, eyes may move to one side or look upward, or staring
Lack of movement or muscle tone (unable to move, loss of tone in neck and head may drop forward, loss of muscle tone in body and person may slump or fall forward)
Tremors, twitching or jerking movements (may occur on one or both sides of face, arms, legs or whole body; may start in one area then spread to other areas or stay in one place)
Rigid or tense muscles (part of the body or whole body may feel very tight or tense and if standing, may fall “like a tree trunk”)
Repeated non-purposeful movements, called automatisms, involve the face, arms or legs, such as
lipsmacking or chewing movements
repeated movements of hands, like wringing, playing with buttons or objects in hands, waving
walking or running
Repeated purposeful movements (person may continue activity that was going on before the seizure)
Convulsion (person loses cønsciøusness, bødy becomes rigid or tense, then fast jerking movements occur)
Ending:
As the seizure ends, the postictal phase occurs - this is the recovery period after the 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.
Common symptoms after a seizure.
Awareness, Sensory, Emotional, or Thought Changes:
Slow to respond or not able to respond right away
Sleepy
Confused
Memory loss
Difficulty talking or writing
Feeling fuzzy, light-headed/dizzy
Feeling depressed, sad, upset
Scared
Anxious
Frustrated/angry, embarrassed, ashamed
Physical Changes:
May have injuries, such as bruising, scrapes or worse if fell during seizure
May feel tıred, exhausted, or sleep for minutes or hours
Headaçhes or other paın
Náuseas or upset stomach
Thirsty
General weàkness or weak in one part or sıde of the bødy