How does having a seizure feel?

If you’ve never had a seizure before, it can be tough to imagine what they might feel like. Are they painful? Do you lose consciousness? Is there any kind of warning sign that one is about to happen? Luckily for you, I’m here to provide some insight into this strange and often misunderstood phenomenon.

What Exactly Happens During a Seizure?

Before we get into how a seizure feels, let’s first talk about what happens during one. Essentially, seizures occur when the electrical activity in your brain becomes disrupted. This disruption causes sudden and uncontrolled movement or change in behavior.

Fun fact: seizures actually come in all shapes and sizes! They can affect different parts of the brain depending on which areas are affected by the electrical disturbance.

There are also different types of seizures, including:

  • Generalized tonic-clonic seizures: These involve stiffening followed by uncontrollable jerking movements.
  • Absence seizures: Characterized by staring episodes where the person temporarily loses awareness.
  • Myoclonic seizures: Brief but intense muscle spasms that typically occur on both sides of the body at once.
  • Complex partial seizures: These often involve strange sensory experiences or behaviors (like lip-smacking) and may cause temporary confusion.
  • Simple partial seizures: Similar to complex partials but without any impairments in consciousness.

Warning Signs

Now back to our original question – how does having a seizure feel? The answer depends on many factors such as age and type/severity of epilepsy. But as far as symptoms go some epileptic patients experience an aura/ premonition (For those less informed than me this means sensation) before going through their attack.

These precursors can take time forms like:

  • A weird gut feeling
  • Smelling/tasting something odd
  • Seeing bright lights/colors/outlines
  • An overwhelming sense of Deja Vu

If you ever experience a premonition like that and also have epilepsy, talk to your doctor about it. It may help prevent trouble in the future.

In the Moment

When an epileptic attack happens, surprisingly not everyone experiences physical pain but there is a general feeling of loss of control over their body during attacks which can be terrifying:

  • A sense that “the world has slowed down”
  • A sense of being unresponsive to events happening around you
  • Body stiffness with violent jerking motions (tonic-clonic)

During some seizures, patients report strange sensations such as tingling on one side or numbness as if their limbs are somehow separate from themselves. Others might see flashes of bright colors or hear sounds that aren’t even present..

Fun fact: Some people don’t even remember having a seizure afterwards!

In fact certain low-activity simple focal seizures can go unnoticed for years until diagnosed by EEG tests. So it’s safe to assume just because someone isn’t thrashing about doesn’t mean nothing’s going on upstairs.

After math

Once its all over patients generally feel tired and/or sleepy – this is because Epilepsy exhausts muscles/calories super quickly so patience often feel weak once they regain consciousness . Migraines (‘aura’ kinds) after initial phase are quite common ,making rest crucial.

What Can Trigger Seizures?

Seizure triggers varies greatly among individuals (Shock horror! Just like every thing else!) Common stimulants include;

  1. Underlying brain conditions i.e meningitis, stroke,Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI).
  2. Sleep deprivation/reduced sleep patterns.
  3. Triggers unique to individual i.e stress/smells/photosensitivity/regimes/heat exposure/flickering lights).
    4 Withdrawal from recreational drugs/alcohol.
    5 Certain Medicines.

As different stimuli causes different types of Seizures therefore the kind of triggers affecting an individual with epilepsy will greatly determine the kind of seizures they’ll have.

Conclusion

So, how does having a seizure feel? Well to be honest every seizure is just as unique as ever person so no two are alike (kinda like snowflakes, but way less fun). But in general folks report a sense of loss control over their body and bizarre sensory experiences; others remember nothing afterwards while some might get the whole migraine experience . It can be frightening for both patient and loved ones involved, so if you’re concerned that things may not be all ok, always reach out to your GP or local charity for support because life is meant to be enjoyed!

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