Definition of Seizures:

A seizure is the physical findings or changes in behavior that occur after an episode of abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

See also:

• Generalized tonic clonic seizure
• Partial (focal) seizure
• Petit mal (absence) seizure
• Epilepsy
• Fever (febrile) convulsions (seizures in children with high fever)

Considerations:

It may be hard to tell if someone is having a seizure. Some seizures only cause a person to have staring spells, which may go unnoticed. Specific symptoms of a seizure depend on what part of the brain is involved. They occur suddenly and may include:

• Change in alertness; the person cannot remember a period of time
• Mood changes, such as unexplainable fear, panic, joy, or laughter
• Change in sensation of the skin, usually spreading over the arm, leg, or trunk
• Vision changes, including seeing flashing lights
• Rarely, hallucinations (seeing things that aren't there)
• Falling, loss of muscle control, occurs very suddenly
• Muscle twitching that may spread up or down an arm or leg
• Muscle tension or tightening that causes twisting of the body, head, arms, or legs
• Shaking of the entire body
• Tasting a bitter or metallic flavor

Symptoms may stop after a few minutes, or continue for 15 minutes. They rarely continue longer.

Common Causes:

Causes of seizures can include:

• Abnormal levels of sodium or glucose in the blood
• Brain injury (such as stroke or a head injury)
• Brain injury that occurs to the baby during labor or childbirth
• Brain problems that occur before birth (congenital brain defects)
• Brain tumor or bleeding in the brain
• Dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease
• High fever
• Illnesses that cause the brain to deteriorate
• Infections that affect the brain, such as meningitis, encephalitis, neurosyphilis, or AIDS
• Kidney or liver failure
• Phenylketonuria (PKU), which can cause seizures in infants
• Use of illegal street drugs, such as cocaine or amphetamines
• Withdrawal from alcohol after drinking a lot on most days
• Withdrawal from certain drugs, including some painkillers and sleeping pills

Sometimes no cause can be identified. This is called idiopathic seizures. They usually are seen in children and young adults but can occur at any age. There may be a family history of epilepsy or seizures.

If seizures repeatedly continue after the underlying problem is treated, the condition is called epilepsy.

Home Care:

Most seizures stop by themselves. However, the patient can be hurt or injured during a seizure. For information on how to help someone who is having a seizure, see: Seizure first aid

Call your health care provider if:

Call 911 or your local emergency number if:

• A seizure occurs in a person who has never had one before
• It is an unusually long seizure in someone who has a seizure disorder

Report all seizures to the person's health care provider. The doctor may need to adjust or change the person's medications.

What to expect at your health care provider's office:

A person who has had a new or severe seizure is usually seen in a hospital emergency room. The health care provider will try to diagnose the type of seizure based on the symptoms.

Tests will be done to rule out other medical conditions that cause seizures or similar symptoms. This may include fainting, transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke, panic attacks, migraine headaches, sleep disturbances, and others.

Tests may include:

• Blood tests
• CT scan of the head or MRI of the head
• EEG (usually not in the emergency room)
• Lumbar puncture (spinal tap)

Further testing is needed if you have:

• A new seizure without an obvious cause
• Epilepsy (to make sure the person is taking the right amount of medicine)

A single seizure due to an obvious trigger (such as use of a certain drug) is treated by eliminating or avoiding that trigger.

Prevention:

There is no specific way to prevent all seizures. However, the following tips may help control some of them:

• Always take your medications as your doctor instructed. Family members should observe and record any seizure information to make sure the person gets proper treatment.
• Get plenty of quality sleep, reduce stress, exercise, and eat a healthy diet. Poor health habits can make you more likely to have more seizures.

You might help lower your risk of seizures if you:

• Use helmets to prevent head injury. This will lessen the likelihood of a brain injury that leads to seizures.
• Avoid illegal street drugs.

You should not drive if you have uncontrolled seizures. Every U.S. state has a different law detailing which people with a history of seizures are allowed to drive. If you have uncontrolled seizures, you should avoid activities where loss of awareness would cause great danger, such as climbing to high places, biking, and swimming alone.