Staring Spell Seizures They re Not All the Same

Title:
Staring-Spell Seizures: They’re Not All the Same
Word Count:
928

Summary:
Epileptic seizures in which patients appear to be staring into space are not always "petit mal

Keywords:
epilepsy,epileptic,seizure,petit mal,absence,partial complex,psychomotor,temporal lobe,eeg,phe

Article Body:
Most people understand that there are multiple types of epileptic seizures. The best known var

A less dramatic form of epilepsy also involves loss of consciousness, but without a fall to th

What is often under-appreciated is that more than one kind of epileptic attack can take the fo

Staring-spell seizures are often lumped together in public awareness under the heading of "pet

Although both absence and partial-complex seizures involve staring and unresponsiveness, that’

usual ages of onset
duration
symptoms recalled by the patients
movements or behaviors during the attacks
after-effects
electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns
underlying causes
most effective treatments

Absence seizures begin in childhood, and often in the pre-school years. They usually disappear

The duration of the attacks also separates the two kinds of seizures. Absence seizures are sho
Most children with absence seizures are unaware of having them, though might notice a loss of

Another point of distinction is that the patient’s movements or behaviors during attacks are d

Yet another difference concerns after-effects. After absence seizures, children resume their p

If brain-waves are monitored during attacks, then the two kinds of epilepsy show completely di


Absence seizures, which occur on both sides of the brain at once, are usually inherited and th
Finally, the medications that best control the two kinds of seizures can differ. For example,
(C) 2005 by Gary Cordingley

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