Types of Seizures | Epilepsy Foundation
Focal seizures can start in one area or group of cells in one side of the brain. Focal onset aware seizures: When a person is awake and aware during a seizure, it’s called a focal aware seizure. This used to be called a simple partial seizure. Focal onset impaired awareness: When a person is confused or their awareness is affected in some way ...
What Happens During a Seizure? | Epilepsy Foundation
Common symptoms during a seizure. Awareness, Sensory, Emotional or Thought Changes: Loss of awareness (often called “black out”) Confused, feeling spacey. Periods of forgetfulness or memory lapses. Distracted, daydreaming. Loss of consciousness, unconscious, or …
Tonic-Clonic Seizures - Epilepsy Foundation
Tonic-clonic seizures can start in one or both sides of the brain. When they start in both sides of the brain, they are called generalized onset motor seizures or a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Both terms mean the same thing. When they start in one side of the brain and spread to affect both sides, the term focal to bilateral tonic-clonic ...
Absence Seizures | Symptoms & Risks | Epilepsy Foundation
A good description of what happened is important. Usually, this description comes from people who have seen the seizures: a parent, teacher, or other family member. If the events sound like seizures or other symptoms have happened, the doctor will order an EEG (electroencephalogram).The EEG checks the electrical activity in the brain for patterns usually seen in absence seizures.
Seizure Medication List - Epilepsy Foundation
Seizure Medication List. Before receiving a prescription, your healthcare team will discuss side effects, any allergies you may have, and the type of medication that is right for you based on your seizure type or epilepsy syndrome. There are many different types of medications, and the seizure medication list below will help you understand them ...
Levetiracetam - Epilepsy Foundation
Feb 22, 2023 · Levetiracetam is an intermediate release form. See the Levetiracetam ER or Keppra XR for specific instructions on dosing of the slow or extended-release form. For dosing in adults and teens 16 years and older: Levetiracetam is usually started at 250 or 500 mg twice a day. The dose can be increased by 500 mg twice a day every 2 weeks.
Understanding Seizures | Is It Epilepsy? | Epilepsy Foundation
Seizures involve sudden, temporary, bursts of electrical activity in the brain that change or disrupt the way messages are sent between brain cells. These electrical bursts can cause involuntary changes in body movement or function, sensation, behavior or awareness. Every brain has the potential to seize. A person with epilepsy has a lower ...
Myoclonic Seizures & Syndromes | Epilepsy Foundation
Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) seizures usually involve the neck, shoulders, and upper arms. In many patients the seizures most often occur soon after waking up. They usually begin around puberty or sometimes in early adulthood in people with a normal range of intelligence. In most cases, these seizures can be well controlled with medication ...
Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Seizures | Epilepsy Foundation
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a type of neuromodulation. It is designed to change how brain cells work by giving electrical stimulation to certain areas involved in seizures. The vagus nerve is part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls functions of the body that are not under voluntary control (such as heart rate and breathing ...
How Seizure Medicines Work | Epilepsy Foundation
Seizure medicines work in complex ways. Many medicines act on brain cells to affect the way substances move in and out of the cells. Others try to change the way substances called ‘neurotransmitters’ excite (e.g. stimulate) or inhibit (e.g. stop or slow down) the way information is sent from one cell and area of the brain to another.