âSo the doc said I have ____ Seizures. What does that actually mean?â An Updated Cheat Sheet
So youâve been diagnosed with epilepsy. Great⌠what does that even mean?
âEpilepsy is a seizure disorder,â meaning youâre brain is more likely to send off mixed signals, than the next guy. But thatâs alright, âcause Iâm going to lay down the basics of what you need to know. Lol.
First, letâs get this straight: everyone is capable of having a seizure. You stick lilâ Timmy infront of a high speed strobe for long enough, sooner or later his brain will say âWhat the hell am I looking at? I canât keep up!â And heâll wind up on the floor.
Folks who have Epilepsy, like you and I, are no different. We see things, hear things, feel, and taste, just like any other human being. Okay? What Iâm trying to get at here is you are not a freak of nature. You are not a mutant. Sadly, no, you do not have special powers to set objects aflame. (I know. That bummed me out too.) No! Instead, youâre just a normal dudelet - just chillin with the rest of the human race.
But what does makes us different, is that we have a lower seizure tolerance than most. Thatâs it. I know right? When you say it like that, it doesnât sound like a big deal. Thatâs cause it isnât. What is a big deal, are the seizures themselves, which Iâll get to in a hot minute.
So what IS a seizure? Great question. â⌠a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain,â says The Epilepsy Foundation (epilepsy.com). Another, but equally scientific, definition describes it as, âthe workers in your brain going, âWhat the actual fuck are we dealing with here?â And proceeding to lose their shit,â
Pretty much, something - be it lights, lack of sleep, stress, booze, high pitched beeping, the sight of toast, whatever - will set off this seizure. This is called a Trigger. Triggers are things that our brains donât generally enjoy. They tend to me things that could give a person headaches, or migraines; or make you feel out of sorts if you have to deal with them for too long. It is possible for some to âdelayâ a seizure, or even stave it off completely. Not everyone can do this though. I know someone whoâs been able to prevent her seizures by sleeping with a foot on the floor. I (sometimes) can push one off if I feel one coming on, by either her being physically active or focusing on something solid, to remind myself im not floating away. But as I said, not everyone can do it. It depends on what type of seizures you have, and how in tune you are with your body. I only figured out my method after years of experimenting.
Anyway, so we got the basics. Back toâŚ.
Seizures! There are two major categories from which we have a variety of flavors.
Thereâs Focal and Generalized. The main difference between the two is how they start. Easy enough, right? (Iâve heard tell of a third classification âUnknown Onsetâ, but weâll get into that later)
First we have Focal Onset: Focal seizures happen in specific parts of the brain - Sort of like a controlled mob.
Focal Onset Aware (aka Simple Partial): Im gonna be frank with you here. There are like a million types of Simple Partial Seizures. I probably wonât hit every kind, and I apologize if Iâve skipped someone out there. Ya know. My bad. Nonetheless Iâll do my best.
Simple Partials are pretty cool is that you are awake for them. Oh yeah. Thatâs right. You can have a seizure and be totally cognizant. These are the ones many refer to as âAurasâ. Yeah, you know that âwarningâ you get before blacking out? That my friend is most likely a simple partial seizure. Theyâre like little seizures. Aw cute, right. No! Theyâre a pain in the ass! (Ehem. Apologies) anyway, as I said before, they can come in a whole bunch of types. To save time, Iâm just going to give you a list of the effects:
Some people experience Deja Vu, out of body experiences, weird tastes in your mouth, (thereâs emotional/psychological kinds) thatâs make you have intense sorrow, or a sense of impending doom, others make you randomly filled with a god-like rage.
Others make your hands, fingers, toes, legs, etc twitch.
Some make it IMPOSSIBLE to find the right words/understand words/even read, and you suddenly feel illiterate and as if English is your second language despite being brought up in the US. (Iâm not emotionally invested or anything).
Honestly, for these, you really should look it up yourself. Iâll be doing a separate post just for them, but nonetheless. Itâs too important, and itâs one that truly is unique to the person.
Focal Onset Unaware (aka Complex Partial):
These are like simple partial seizures, but youâre NOT awake. Apparently many experience lip smacking during it. I wouldnât know, because Iâm out for the count. The one thing I do know is they can go into Generalized Seizures. This is not common however, thatâs just the case for me.
Next we have Generalized: âGeneralizedâ Seizure are seizures that effect both sides of your brain. *Imagine a stray cluster of teenage neurons are having a house party, and EVERYONE shows up.*. [Neurons are the little electric dudes thatâs race around your head and make everything work/tell different parts of your brain whatâs going on]
Tonic-Clonic (Motor): This is the big nasty one that people believe all seizures look like. The person loses consciousness, and convulses (shakes).
What Itâs Like: They donât hurt while it happens; but Iâll be honest with you, it can feel like youâve been hit by a bus coming out of it. Basically, youâve been clenching up and releasing muscles you didnât even know you had over and over really really quickly. Itâs like being super out of shape, and then made to do a triathlon athleteâs complete workout circuit in 2-5 minutes. At a weird angle, so you probably get dinged up along the way. So yeah. Iâd describe it as waking up to limp noodles for tendons and joints, and fiery rocks for muscles. Itâs sorta like how youâd imagine the hero of an action film would ACTUALLY feel like if the scenario were real.
Absence: these are super quick, but can happen MANY many times a day. Theyâre so quick that theyâre almost impossible to notice. You stare for a few seconds, and snap out of it. I know, not very scary. What sucks is that you can lose time with them. So one second youâll be lovin life, and suddenly, black, you forgot what you were saying, and a whole bunch of things that happened recently. This all comes back though, eventually.
Clonic Seizures: Unlike Tonic Clonic, these big and nasties happen while youâre awake. (Fun fact: Tonic is the part of the seizure where you stiffen and fall unconscious. Clonic is where you convulse). So needless to say, these can hurt. Actually, they do hurt. A lot. Iâve only had a couple in my time, thankfully, but it feels like everythingâs described earlier for Tonic-Clonics, except you are wide awake the entire time to enjoy every bump, scratch, and uncontrolled spasm. Oh, and it feels like there are electric shocks going through you. At least it did for me. These tend to last a few minutes.
Tonic Seizures: these tend to happen in your sleep, but they donât have to necessarily. The muscles in your legs, arms, or abdomen tense up for about 20 seconds. Itâs relatively harmless, but can mean for some serious loss of balance if it happens while standing up. (Also theyâre just a pain, and can wear you out, honestly)
Atonic: These Iâll admit, can be spooky. Basically your muscles go limp for about 15 seconds at a time. So you might now be able to hold your head up; or suddenly you drop everything cause your arms go out. Itâs not fun. Itâs actually less than 15 seconds, but some people can have a bunch of these in a row. If its bad enough, some may consider wearing a helmet, if a fall hazard arises.
Myoclonic: Muscles will jerk as it electricuted. Apparently these seizures can start in the same part of the brain as Atonic, and many who have one have been known to experience the other.
So thatâs what you missed on Glee! Any questions, comments, moans or groans, shoot em up my way! If anyone has any knowledge of Tonic Clonic Seizures, id love to hear it! And if I missed anything, please let me know!!
Hope this can be of some help for you newbies out there, (or for you other folks like I who never got the full story on their diagnoses til much later lol)
And donât worry friend. I know Epilepsy is rough. I know it sounds scary, but youâre going to be fine. Youâve got an entire community who has your back :) So hang in there Kiddo!
Captain Fantastic Spastic
