Seizure Disorders

What are seizure disorders?

Seizure disorders are conditions in which you experience seizures because of sudden periods of disruption in your brain’s electrical activity. Seizures cause uncontrollable changes in your movement and feelings that vary from hardly noticeable to loss of consciousness.

A single seizure can happen for many reasons, including:

• Very high fever
• Lack of sleep
• Low blood sodium (hyponatremia)
• Bleeding in the brain
• Blood vessel abnormalities in your brain
• Systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus)
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Stroke
• Brain tumors
• Amphetamine or cocaine use
• Alcohol abuse
• COVID-19 infection

Visual stimulants like flashing lights and moving patterns can trigger a seizure in some people. Some pain-relief and anti-depression medications make it more likely that you’ll have a seizure.

Your Sunset Neurological & Psychiatry Group doctor will diagnose epilepsy if you suffer at least two seizures 24 hours or more apart and no other identifiable cause is found.

What symptoms do seizure disorders cause?

Seizure disorder symptoms vary from mild to severe. They include:

• Short-term confusion
• Staring and glazed eyes
• Feeling fear or anxiety
• Repetitive movements
• Nausea
• Difficulty speaking
• Tingling
• Dizziness
• Seeing flashing lights
• Uncontrollable jerking movements
• Lack of awareness
• Loss of consciousness

You might also find that things around you look, smell, taste, sound, or feel strange.

What are the different kinds of seizures?

Focal seizures are those where the abnormal electrical activity is in one specific area of your brain. Generalized seizures involve the whole brain. Different kinds of generalized seizures include:

Absence seizures

Absence (petit mal) seizures often happen in children. They’re usually 5-10 seconds long and not violent but can occur hundreds of times every day.

Tonic seizures

Tonic seizures make your back, leg, and arm muscles go stiff. You might lose consciousness and fall over.

Atonic seizures

Atonic (drop) seizures make you lose muscle control. You might collapse suddenly or fall.

Clonic seizures

Clonic seizures can cause jerking muscle movements, most often in the neck, arms, and face on both sides of your body.

Myoclonic seizures

Myoclonic seizures cause sudden jerks and twitches in your arms and legs.

Tonic-clonic seizures

Tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures can cause loss of consciousness, stiffening, shaking, tongue-biting, and in some cases, a loss of bladder control. Tonic-clonic seizures can last up to several minutes.

How are seizure disorders treated?

Sunset Neurological & Psychiatry Group successfully treats many patients who have seizure disorders with anti-seizure medication.

Other treatments include vagus nerve stimulation, responsive neurostimulation, and deep brain stimulation. These treatments all use electrical impulses to regulate brain function. They can reduce how often you have seizures and make them less severe.

Call Sunset Neurological & Psychiatry Group today or book an appointment online for expert diagnosis and treatment if you have a seizure disorder.