Seizures & Syndromes
Not all seizure disorders are alike. They can differ in the way they affect the brain and in the symptoms they produce. Here is a summary of the types of seizures LAMICTAL treats.
Partial seizures
Partial seizures begin in just one part of the brain. About 60% of people with epilepsy have partial seizures. There are two types of partial seizures:- Simple partial seizures may cause unusual feelings or sensations that can take many forms, such as sudden, unexplained feelings of joy, anger, sadness, or nausea. It's not uncommon to hear, smell, taste, see, or feel things that are not real. During simple partial seizures, you may remain alert and aware.
- Complex partial seizures cause a change in or loss of consciousness. Altered consciousness can produce a dreamlike experience. Strange, repetitious behaviors such as blinks, twitches, mouth movements, or even walking in a circle may occur. Throwing objects or striking walls or furniture, as if in anger or fear, may also occur.
- Secondary generalized seizures occur when simple or complex seizures spread to involve your entire brain. The seizure may begin as a complex partial seizure with staring and nonpurposeful movements. It then becomes more intense, leading to generalized convulsions characterized by stiffening and shaking of your extremities and your body with loss of consciousness.
Symptoms of partial seizures can be mistaken for other disorders. For example, the dreamlike experience of partial seizures may be mistaken for migraine headaches. In people with partial seizures, the progression of symptoms tends to be similar every time.
Generalized seizures
Generalized seizures affect areas of both sides of the brain, usually with loss of consciousness. There is one generalized seizure type that LAMICTAL treats:- Tonic-clonic seizures (formerly called "grand mal" seizures) can cause a person to become stiff, lose consciousness, and jerk repetitively. The person may fall to the ground, bite his/her tongue, and/or lose bladder control. Serious injury including bone fractures can occur. These are the most common generalized seizures.
Defining seizure type can sometimes be difficult. Seizure patterns can change, and some people experience more than one type of seizure, with no clear pattern.
Does having a seizure mean you have epilepsy?
Not necessarily. Sometimes a single seizure is due to a one-time event (such as drug use or a high fever). In this case, your doctor may not diagnose epilepsy. In epilepsy, a person has recurrent seizures due to a chronic (ongoing), underlying brain disturbance.
Epilepsy syndromes
There are hundreds of epilepsy syndromes. Syndromes are defined by shared characteristics such as type of seizure, seizure triggers, behavior during a seizure, hereditary factors, and brain wave patterns.
Doctors look at the type(s) of seizures you experience, along with other factors, to determine whether you have a known epilepsy syndrome. If your symptoms fit a known epilepsy syndrome, it provides useful information about your prognosis and which treatments are likely to be most effective.
Some of these syndromes develop in children and are outgrown by adulthood.
The epilepsy syndrome that LAMICTAL treats:- Lennox-Gastaut syndrome - Severe epilepsy that usually develops before age 6; involves several different types of seizures; includes mental retardation.
For information on other seizure types and syndromes, please visit www.epilepsyfoundation.org