Electrical seizures

If you, or someone you know, has been diagnosed with non- epileptic seizures it may be helpful for you to identify the type of seizures that are relevant to you and how you feel about them. There are many different types of epileptic seizure. Nonepilepsy seizures may be associated with psychological conditions or other physical problems and are not caused by electrical activity in the brain. Seizures are generally described in two major groups depending on where they start in the brain: generalized seizures and focal seizures.

This picks up and records the electrical activity in the brain.

If someone is having an epileptic seizure , an EEG will usually show abnormal electrical activity.

Differences between non-epileptic attacks and epileptic seizures have been described for hundreds of years.

However, all names describe the same thing: attacks, which look similar to epileptic seizures , but are not caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain ( epileptic activity). Like epileptic seizures , NEAs can cause blacking out, collapsing, injuries and loss of bladder control. NEAs are not consciously produced to achieve . Non epileptic attacks look like epileptic seizures but are not caused by electrical activity in the brain. The condition has several other names such as dissociative seizures, psychogenic non epileptic seizures (PNES), functional seizures or, fortunately used rarely now, pseudo-seizures. Many people may first be diagnosed . A non- epileptic seizure is another type of seizure.

It can look similar to epileptic seizures or faints, but it is not caused by abnormal electrical discharges or blood pressure. It does not simply mean we have . People with nonepileptic seizures (NES) have periods of seizure-like activity. The loss or change causes periods of physical activity or inactivity that resemble epileptic seizures. A person can have both nonepileptic . Not all seizures are due to epilepsy.

The fact that epileptic seizures always . Some features of dissociative seizures are very similar to epileptic seizures. These physical features include loss of awareness, loss of sensation, and loss of control over bodily movement (which may include having convulsions). Psychogenic non- epileptic seizures (PNES) are events resembling an epileptic seizure , but without the characteristic electrical discharges associated with epilepsy.

They are one type of non- epileptic seizures. PNES are also known as non-epileptic attack disorders (NEAD). There is no scientific consensus as to what . Epilepsy develops and different kinds of seizures can happen either during the day or during sleep. Many children will have absence (blank) seizures , some myoclonic (jerk) seizures and others will have focal (partial) motor seizures ( seizures involving jerks of one side of the body only) particularly during the night.

But what are epileptic seizures ? Electrical activity is happening in our brain all the time, as networks of tiny brain cells send messages to each other. These messages control all our thoughts, movements, senses and body functions. Epileptic seizures are caused by excessive electrical activity within networks of neurons in the brain. Ions enter and leave neurons via structures known as ion channels (figure 1), and once the current within . Non- epileptic seizures , on the other han are not accom- panied by abnormal electrical discharges.

They have been previously called pseudoseizures, but that term is mislead- ing. These seizures are quite real, and people who have them do not have conscious, voluntary control over them.