Types of seizures

Question 1

• Brief (< 1minute)

- Motor, sensory, autonomic or cognitive features

Answer 1

Focal seizures without impairment of awareness

Question 2

• 1-2 min
• Focally originating, blank stare
• Motor automatisms (lip smacking/chewing)
• Postictal confusion common
• Can begin without impairment of awareness before progressing or may have impairment at onset

Answer 2

Focal seizures with impairment of awareness

Commonly misdiagnosed as abscence seizures

Question 3

-Begins as focal and progresses to tonic/clonic

Answer 3

Focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures

Question 4

• Last 5-10 seconds
• No warning signs or post ictal confusions
• Recur daily
• Onset in childhood or adolescence (almost never adulthood)

Answer 4

Generalized absence seizures

Question 5

-Last 1-2 minutes
-May begin as focal or can involve entire brain
-May have focal/partial features at onset
-Uniform sequence of motor features
-Impaired consciousness, apnea and cyanosis
Postictal stupor, confusion, HA

Answer 5

Generalized tonic-clonic seizures

Question 6

• Return to awareness in seconds
• Abrupt loss of consciousness and muscle tone
• No other motor features
• Part of a clinical syndrome
• Never occur in normal adults

Answer 6

Generalized Atonic seizures

Question 7

-Seizure type consisting of brief, bilateral shock like jerks

Answer 7

Generalized myoclonic seizures