Focal Seizures

Focal seizures are the most common form of seizure, and they originate in one area of the brain. Focal seizures may or may not cause a loss of consciousness (meaning that their effects can be experienced even if you remain awake).

A focal seizure often manifests as abnormal sensations, emotions, involuntary body movements (seizures can take many forms), out-of-body experiences, or smells and tastes that are not present. Or it could manifest as an aura which is a mental sensation or visual hallucination warning the individual that an epileptic seizure is coming.

Focal seizures can last from seconds to minutes. They're followed by an alert period with no unusual symptoms before another focal seizure occurs.

The seizure may or may not be followed by a period of postictal (after seizure) amnesia. This means that you might lose the ability to recall what happened during the seizure.

Focal seizures in which a person loses consciousness are called generalized seizures. They can also cause a loss of consciousness when they're in the early stage before the patient regains full consciousness.

These are called infantile spasms. They can also cause a loss of consciousness if it's sudden and severe enough, but this doesn't usually happen during a focal seizure unless it's very small or very strange in some other way.

Diagnosis of Focal Seizures

The most common cause of focal seizures is a brain injury, especially traumatic brain injury. This can happen suddenly when the head suddenly jerks forward in a fall, they're hit by a baseball or thrown from a car. Injuries can also be caused by surgery to remove tumors or other growths from the brain.

Other possible causes of focal seizures are movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, stroke, and myotonic dystrophy, which results in lack of muscle control, and disorders that affect fluid levels or electrical activity in the brain such as hydrocephalus (when cerebrospinal fluid leaks into the ventricles), encephalitis (an infection of the brain) and birth trauma.

Focal seizures can be caused by several different things, and some people have more than one cause. In the case of epilepsy, the condition is genetic and is passed down from parent to child.

For most people with epilepsy, there's no trigger for their seizures. A person typically has a focal seizure because he or she has an area in the brain that's abnormal and not working properly.

Sometimes it can take weeks or months after a seizure for doctors to identify the cause of the seizure. The diagnosis will then depend on whether you have any other neurological problems such as hydrocephalus or if your family history includes abnormalities in the brain such as tumors, injury, strokes, and so on.

Treatment of Focal Seizures

The most important thing for most people with epilepsy is to find out if they're getting better. This is done with the help of an EEG, which measures electrical activity in the brain during seizures.

If your seizures are getting worse or they're very severe, you may need to see a neurologist who's an expert in epilepsy. An EEG can also diagnose brain damage after a concussion or after head trauma.

Many people with focal seizures have medication to control them, but some people won't respond as well as others. For example, those who have motor defects such as tremors will probably need stronger medications to control their seizures than those who don't have these problems.

Frequently Asked Questions of Focal Seizures

Are Focal Seizures Dangerous?

No, they usually aren't. Many focal seizures are harmless. However, the most common cause of severe damage to the brain is a head injury, followed by birth trauma and other birth-related disorders such as hydrocephalus.

In other words, if you've experienced a focal seizure in the last 20 years it's possible that it was caused by a head injury–so you should always see your doctor if you think this might be the case.

Can They Cause Death?

Focal seizures are unlikely to result in death, but they can sometimes be dangerous, especially if they're part of a cluster or they occur during sleep. If these are the circumstances, then calling an ambulance is the best course of action–it's the only way to ensure that you get immediate help if you're having a seizure.

How Are Focal Seizures Treated? Can They Be Prevented?

Most people with focal seizures can be helped by medication. However, it's still possible for them to have another focal seizure even after having taken their medication for many months or years.