Want to watch this video? Sign up for the course here. Or enter your email below to watch one free video.

Unlock This Video Now for FREE

This video is normally available to paying customers.
You may unlock this video for FREE. Enter your email address for instant access AND to receive ongoing updates and special discounts related to this topic.



Symptoms of epilepsy are a tendency to have repeated seizures. Some people may call their seizures fits or funny turns however we prefer to stick with the term seizures, unfortunately if we use the terms fits other people may get misconceptions. So it could be that somebody has had a fit of temper. A fit of laughter, a hissy fit it gives all kinds of negative connotations. So we prefer to use the word seizures when describing epilepsy. The types of symptoms somebody may have depends on where in the brain the seizures take place and it can range from anything from a strange sensation as in a strange taste in their mouth. It could be that they can smell something strange, they're hearing things. It could be something visual, they could be having hallucinations, they could be seeing flashing lights in front of their eyes. It depends on where in the brain those seizures take place. So, for other people, they might have plucking motions so they are plucking invisible fluff off of their shirt, they may be chewing on their lips, they may be spinning around in circles, they may make cycling motions with their feet. Again, it depends on where in the brain that that seizure is taking place.

For some people, they are totally aware during their seizure which means they remember everything that's happened. Other people are completely unaware and remember nothing. Other people maybe look like they're aware, but when the seizure is finished, they'll have no memory so they could be in a confused state. Muddled, wandering around aimlessly. Some people have seizures only when they are awake, some people have seizures when they are asleep. Sleep seizures are termed nocturnal seizures but it doesn't mean that they are only at night, it actually means when they are asleep, so if somebody has a doze in the afternoon, they could have a seizure, during that doze. Some people may be unfortunate enough to actually have seizures during the day, and whilst they're asleep. Sometimes we might not see the person have a seizure, however, we may find someone in a confused state, they may have been incontinent of faeces or urine, they may have bitten their tongue, they may have a head injury.

So it might be that actually that there's something showing that the person's had a seizure, it might be, they've woken up in the morning and their bed is wet and they've got blood on their pillow, so although we've not seen them have a seizure, there are signs that something's happened in the night. Some people are totally aware that they're going to have a seizure some people have no idea whatsoever. Many years ago, people would have what they would call an aura or a warning and that could be a strange taste in their mouth or a strange sense of deja vu and they knew when they had that feeling, that may be within a few seconds, they would black out. At the point that they blacked out, we would be seeing that person having a seizure, that we call a tonic-clonic seizure, they will go rigid and their whole body shakes. The only part of the seizure that they would remember was that first bit. Now we call that first part of the seizure, a simple focal seizure, which means a person is having a seizure in one part of the brain, and they are fully aware. Some people call them simple partial seizures auras or warnings.