Some people with epilepsy have 'asleep seizures' (sometimes called 'nocturnal seizures'), that happen when they are asleep, as they are falling asleep or as they are waking up. Frontal lobe epilepsy is a type of epilepsy where seizures can commonly happen during periods of NREM sleep as well as when awake.
Symptoms. Nocturnal seizures may range from awakening for no clear reason, sometimes multiple times a night, to shouting, screaming and violent movements of the arms and legs. Patients may also thrash around or act confused.
A seizure is a result of an increased electrical activity in the brain which causes sudden change in the behavior of the affected person. One third of epileptic patients have seizures during the sleep.
Some people with epilepsy have 'asleep seizures' (sometimes called 'nocturnal seizures'), that happen when they are asleep, as they are falling asleep or as they are waking up. Frontal lobe epilepsy is a type of epilepsy where seizures can commonly happen during periods of NREM sleep as well as when awake.
Sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy (SHE) is the most common type of sleep epilepsy. SHE is sometimes called nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy because the seizures from this condition usually start in the frontal lobe. They typically occur during nighttime sleep, but can happen during daytime naps as well.
Video Electroencephalography
Using video EEG, your doctor can confirm whether you are having an epileptic seizure and, if so, its type and location in the brain. Video EEG recordings can be used whether you are in the hospital or at home.
However, according to research on the experiences of people with seizures, stress and anxiety can trigger seizures, and current research often underestimates the role they may play. Lack of sleep is a common trigger for seizures, and this can often happen in people who are experiencing overwhelming stress.
Seizures in adults with no seizure history can be caused by a number of factors ranging from high blood pressure, drug abuse and toxic exposures to brain injury, brain infection (encephalitis) and heart disease.
The period immediately following a seizure is called the postictal seizure state, and it usually lasts 5–30 minutes . During this time, a person may be in an altered state of consciousness or feel dizzy or confused.
Don't wake them up but do check their breathing. Talk to them once they're awake. In most cases, you do not need to call an ambulance.
Prodrome: Some people may experience feelings, sensations, or changes in behavior hours or days before a seizure. These feelings are generally not part of the seizure, but may warn a person that a seizure may come.
PNES are attacks that may look like epileptic seizures but are not epileptic and instead are caused by psychological factors. Sometimes a specific traumatic event can be identified. PNES are sometimes referred to as psychogenic events, psychological events, or nonepileptic seizures (NES).
They typically look just like epilepsy-related seizures, but they're seizures triggered by emotional stress. Some people with PNES may look like they're experiencing generalized convulsions similar to tonic-clonic seizures with full-body spasms or shaking. Others may have twitching or jerking in their limbs.
Some patients may have a feeling of having lived a certain experience in the past, known as “déjà vu.” Other warning signs preceding seizures include daydreaming, jerking movements of an arm, leg, or body, feeling fuzzy or confused, having periods of forgetfulness, feeling tingling or numbness in a part of the body, ...
These can include heart palpitations, sweating, trembling and shaking, headaches, dizziness, hot flashes and chills. They are accompanied with a feeling of intense fear. Many of these symptoms can appear similar to epileptic seizures.
Does epilepsy show up on MRI scans? No, not necessarily. An MRI scan can help your doctor understand some of the possible underlying structural causes of your seizures. However, for many people there is no structural cause behind their epilepsy and so the brain scan comes back 'normal'.
Call 911 or the local emergency number immediately if:
The seizure lasts five minutes or longer or is repeated. Injuries have resulted from the seizure. The person experiences persistent breathing difficulty. The person having the seizure also has a fever.
The temporal lobes are the areas of the brain that most commonly give rise to seizures. The mesial portion (middle) of both temporal lobes is very important in epilepsy — it is frequently the source of seizures and can be prone to damage or scarring.
Absence seizures, sometimes called petit mal seizures, can cause rapid blinking or a few seconds of staring into space.
Post-ictal psychosis is a rare condition that arises several hours or days after a seizure, rather than directly afterward. Also, post-ictal psychosis is most dangerous to the person experiencing it; suicide risk is high, though interpersonal violence does occur.
A simple partial seizure can cause: a general strange feeling that's hard to describe. a "rising" feeling in your tummy – like the sensation in your stomach when on a fairground ride. a feeling that events have happened before (déjà vu)