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The main symptoms of epilepsy include seizures, which are violent and involuntary contractions of the muscles and can cause the individual to struggle for a few seconds for up to 2 to 3 minutes.
Epilepsy occurs due to changes in the conduction of nerve impulses in the brain, leading to excessive electrical activity. Epilepsy symptoms often occur without warning and can occur during the day or during sleep, affecting individuals of all ages, from babies to the elderly.
However, epilepsy can only cause an absence crisis, which is when the individual is stopped and totally absent, not speaking or reacting to the touch for a few seconds, being hardly perceived by family members.
In addition, there are several types of epilepsy, such as tonic-clonic or absent seizures and some of the causes of epilepsy can be a blow to the head, brain tumors, light or very loud sounds or genetic diseases, for example. Find out more causes of the disease at: Epilepsy.
Symptoms of generalized epilepsy
When there is a crisis of tonic-clonic epilepsy, popularly known as great malady, changes occur throughout the brain leading to loss of consciousness and symptoms such as:
- Fall on the floor;
- Uncontrolled and involuntary contractions of the body's muscles;
- Stiffness of the muscles, especially the arms, legs and chest;
- Salivate a lot, even drooling;
- Bite your tongue and grit your teeth;
- Urinary incontinence;
- Difficulty breathing;
- Reddish skin;
- Changes in smell, which can be pleasant or very unpleasant;
- Imperceptible speech;
- Aggressiveness, being able to resist help;
- Confusion and lack of attention;
- Somnolence.
During epileptic seizures, it is common to lose consciousness that makes the individual not remember the episode. After the crisis it is normal to experience drowsiness, headache, nausea and vomiting.
When the epileptic seizure lasts more than 5 minutes, medical assistance should be called by calling 192 or taking the victim to the hospital immediately. To know what to do in the event of a crisis read: what to do in the epilepsy crisis.
Symptoms of partial epilepsy
In some situations, epilepsy can affect only a small part of the brain's neurons, causing milder symptoms that correspond to the part of the brain affected. For example, if the intense activity of the brain occurs in the part of the brain that controls the movements of the left leg, it may present contractions and stiffness. Therefore, in this case of epilepsy, symptoms are limited to the affected area.
Symptoms of absence crisis
The absence crisis, commonly known as minor illness, causes less intense symptoms, such as:
- Stay still and very quiet;
- Stay with an empty look;
- Move your face muscles uncontrollably;
- Make movements as if you are chewing;
- Move your arm or leg constantly, but in a slight way;
- Tingling in the arms or legs;
- Small muscle stiffness.
Furthermore, in this type of seizure, there is usually no loss of consciousness, just a strange feeling of deja vu, and in most cases it lasts only between 10 to 30 seconds.
Symptoms of benign childhood epilepsy
Infantile epilepsy in most cases is benign and usually appears between 3 and 13 years of age, with absence crises being the most common type, in which the child stands still and has no reaction. Find out what the specific symptoms are at: How to identify and treat the absence crisis.
Epilepsy Treatment
The treatment for epilepsy should be guided by a neurologist and, usually, it is done with the daily intake of an antiepileptic medicine, such as Oxcarbazepine, Carbamazepine or Valproate of sodium, for example.
When epileptic seizures are not controlled by taking the medication, it may be necessary to combine several remedies. In addition, in some cases, when the drugs are not effective, surgery may be necessary.
During treatment, individuals with epileptic seizures should avoid situations that cause seizures, such as going too long without sleep, drinking alcohol in excess or being in environments with many visual stimuli, as is the case with discos.
To learn more about the treatment of this disease read:
- Is epilepsy curable?
- Treatment of epilepsy