What are the different types of seizures? How does each seizure look different from others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Different types of seizures are indicative of different conditions. Susannah Cahalan experienced different seizures throughout her illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more about the different types of seizures and how to tell them apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Seizures take many forms. During a tonic-clonic seizure, the victim goes rigid, blacks out, shakes uncontrollably, and foams at the mouth. Susannah\u2019s first seizure was tonic-clonic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other seizures, called partials, are more subtle, like bouts of staring, mental fogginess, or repetitive movements. All seizures indicate disturbance somewhere in the brain. Disturbance in the visual cortex produces hallucinations. Disturbance in the motor cortex produces zombielike movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Complex partial seizures can produce trance-like states, repetitive mouth movements, and foggy consciousness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Susannah\u2019s tonic-clonic seizure was instantly recognizable, she had been experiencing other types of seizures since the onset of her illness. Overstimulation of the areas responsible for memory and emotion produce bouts of euphoria<\/em>, like when she shouted that everything was going to be okay; feelings of confusion at familiar scenes<\/em>, like the alien bathroom stalls; and sensitivity to light<\/em>, like the garish colors in Times Square. Some patients report an out-of-body experience<\/em>, like the one Susannah experienced while smoking on the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seizures can have many causes, such as a tumor, sleep deprivation, and alcohol withdrawal. In Susannah\u2019s case, they indicated a problem at the molecular level in her brain. Untreated, seizures can lead to cognitive defects or death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Susannah would go on to have many more seizures, but her first seizure marked a division between a period of time she could remember and a month-long stretch of oblivion that she would not be able to recover without the aid of hospital records, her friends, family, doctors, and video recordings made in the hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Her first seizure also separated the onset of the disease, when Susannah was still \u201cherself\u201d in spite of her increasingly uncharacteristic behavior, from full-blown mental illness, when Susannah\u2019s personality, memory, and identity were completely subsumed by her neurological condition. This is one of many different types of seizures. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What are the different types of seizures? How does each seizure look different from others? Different types of seizures are indicative of different conditions. Susannah Cahalan experienced different seizures throughout her illness. Read more about the different types of seizures and how to tell them apart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-15099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-lifestyle","tag-brain-on-fire","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\n