Different Seizures
From the time my epilepsy first happened (when I was about 15 years old), till after my University days (about 22 years old) , I never suffered an epilepsy attack during the day. It always occurred during the night, always while I was sleeping. Well, that's not quite right. My neurologist doctor explained to me that I could have suffered an epilepsy attack during the day time too although these are not obvious to any bystander.
You see, there are many types of epilepsy 'attacks'. Those where you find a person falling down, foaming at the mouth, muscle contracting, eyes rolling type is called Grand Mal epilepsy. Don't ask me why they named it with the word 'Grand'. To the sufferer, there's nothing grand about it, and to the onlooker, its more frightening than it is Grand. I had Grand Mal epilepsy while I was asleep during this period of my life. Thankfully, only my family was around during all these attacks. Some books name this type of epilepsy noctural epilepsy, for obvious reasons.
On the other hand, in the day time, my epilepsy attacks were of the type commonly called temporal lobe epilepsy. These partial seizures often are not obvious to the bystander. Essentially, the person suffering from it experiences many sensations. For example, a sensation of deja vu because something, the surrounding environment, the situation, seems to the sufferer to be familiar, that it has taken place before some time in his/her life.
Sometimes, the sufferer 'forgets' what he/she is doing, for example, where he is going, why he is where he is, what he is doing. But all this while he is wide awake and quite conscious. I have suffered from this type of seizure often enough that when it happens, I am aware that I am having a seizure. All I can do, really, is let the seizure run its course while I try frantically to search my mind to get back to an exact awareness of where I am and what I had been doing - sans the epilepsy.
These can be very frightening episodes. You would not be able to appreciate it unless you were in my shoes. Thankfully, these temporal lobe epilepsy attacks do not last more than two or three minutes.
These epilepsy attacks have never stopped up until I was 50 years old, when my epilepsy attacks stopped (but this is a story for another day). In fact, they have increased in frequency as I age - which is a cause for worry.
To learn more about the different types of epilepsy, see this article.
You see, there are many types of epilepsy 'attacks'. Those where you find a person falling down, foaming at the mouth, muscle contracting, eyes rolling type is called Grand Mal epilepsy. Don't ask me why they named it with the word 'Grand'. To the sufferer, there's nothing grand about it, and to the onlooker, its more frightening than it is Grand. I had Grand Mal epilepsy while I was asleep during this period of my life. Thankfully, only my family was around during all these attacks. Some books name this type of epilepsy noctural epilepsy, for obvious reasons.
On the other hand, in the day time, my epilepsy attacks were of the type commonly called temporal lobe epilepsy. These partial seizures often are not obvious to the bystander. Essentially, the person suffering from it experiences many sensations. For example, a sensation of deja vu because something, the surrounding environment, the situation, seems to the sufferer to be familiar, that it has taken place before some time in his/her life.
Sometimes, the sufferer 'forgets' what he/she is doing, for example, where he is going, why he is where he is, what he is doing. But all this while he is wide awake and quite conscious. I have suffered from this type of seizure often enough that when it happens, I am aware that I am having a seizure. All I can do, really, is let the seizure run its course while I try frantically to search my mind to get back to an exact awareness of where I am and what I had been doing - sans the epilepsy.
These can be very frightening episodes. You would not be able to appreciate it unless you were in my shoes. Thankfully, these temporal lobe epilepsy attacks do not last more than two or three minutes.
These epilepsy attacks have never stopped up until I was 50 years old, when my epilepsy attacks stopped (but this is a story for another day). In fact, they have increased in frequency as I age - which is a cause for worry.
To learn more about the different types of epilepsy, see this article.
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