Epilepsy is a complex, chronic brain disorder that causes seizures — unexpected energy “storms” in the brain that are responsible for multiple symptoms, including uncontrollable body movements, strange sensations, puzzling behaviors, and even different consciousness levels.
There also isn’t just one type of seizure. One is generalized seizures, which impact your whole brain, and there are several types of these. In this post, however, we’re concentrating on another type of seizure. Focal seizures are ones that just affect a single part of your brain.
But don’t let this point fool you. A focal seizure can be quite debilitating, exhausting, and serious.
If you live with epilepsy, the Houston Neurological Institute team can diagnose you accurately, so you get the treatment you need. Their expertise and caring approach help you feel confident that you’re receiving the most advanced care for this unpredictable condition.
If you’re one of the three million adults living with epilepsy, we’ve got good news. Research is being done every day to learn more about relieving the disorder’s symptoms and finding a cure.
For example, recent research (the most extensive genetic study of epilepsy so far) has uncovered more information about the origins of epilepsy and why it occurs, as well as new promise for effective treatments.
Another study shows us that practicing yoga may help lessen the stigma that many people living with epilepsy feel, and it’s even been found to help reduce seizure frequency and anxiety around seizures.
Still, if you live with epilepsy, it’s a challenge, and if you cope with focal seizures — the ones we spoke about that impact a single part of your brain — it’s important to get the correct treatment.
You can experience a focal seizure either with or without impaired awareness.
If you have a focal seizure with impaired awareness, you may lose consciousness, or you may remain awake but feel like you’re in some type of strange dreamlike state.
The way that this type of seizure manifests to those around you is that you don’t seem focused or responsive — rather, you stare into space and don’t seem present. Behaviors you might engage in include:
When you “come to” after a focal seizure with impaired awareness, you likely won’t remember anything, which can be disconcerting and scary.
During a local seizure without impaired awareness, you don’t lose consciousness, but your senses are affected. Things might taste, smell, sound, and feel different. Your emotions can shift too, and you may suddenly transition to intense happiness, anger, or sadness from what you felt prior to the seizure.
A focal seizure without impaired awareness may cause you to jerk involuntarily, feel lightheaded, or have problems speaking. You can even see light flashes during these seizures.
When you have any type of epileptic seizure, it occurs in phases:
This is when you can feel the seizure is approaching — you might experience mood swings, have trouble sleeping and focusing, feel dizzy, or get nervous.
This early part of the seizure can cause fear and panic. You might experience numbness, headache, vision problems, and strange tastes, smells, or sounds. You may also feel like you’ve experienced something before that you haven’t (déjà vu) or something may feel novel that you know you’ve experienced previously (jamais vu).
This is the time when your seizure-related brain activity peaks. Your awareness might be impaired, and you could have odd sensory experiences. Intense symptoms such as convulsions, breathing problems, muscle control issues, speech challenges, and more can occur.
During this recovery phase, symptoms are varied because they’re dependent on the seizure type and the part of the brain affected. You might feel spent, fearful, or embarrassed, and you may be sore.
There are several other vital things to know about focal seizures. They’re easily misdiagnosed because they resemble other conditions, including narcolepsy and migraine. This is why you should seek care at Houston Neurological Institute, where we emphasize making an accurate diagnosis so we can create the most successful treatment plan.
Focal seizures put you at risk for depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders, and if they aren’t properly treated, they’re associated with memory loss — all strong arguments, again, for seeking the best care.
Our innovative focal seizure treatments include medications and a device akin to a heart pacemaker called a vagal nerve stimulator (VNS). which normalizes brainwave activity. We also partner with skilled surgeons at Texas Medical Center for brain tissue surgical resection, a surgical solution that helps tame seizures.
Call our Pearland or Pasadena office to schedule an appointment, or book one online with one of our excellent neurologists.
