Types of Epilepsy

Epilepsy is divided into various types depending on its site of origin in the brain. The diagnosis of the type of epilepsy can be difficult because the same person may experience different types of seizures and the same type of epilepsy may affect each person differently. There are various types of epilepsy each with different causes, symptoms and treatments. The two main types of epilepsy include Partial seizures and Generalized seizures. These types of epilepsy are further divided into Sub-types.

Partial Seizures

In this type of epilepsy the site of origin is a localized area in one part of the brain. Since only one part of the brain is involved only one part of the body is affected. The two common types of partial seizures include:

• Simple Partial Seizures: This type of partial seizures doesn't affect consciousness but the person may experience symptoms of epilepsy like nausea, vomiting, jerking of toes and fingers, lightheadedness etc.
• Complex Partial Seizures: This type of partial seizure may cause a person to lose his consciousness. The person with this type of seizure may not be able to carry out simple tasks and may experience symptoms like memory loss, involuntary movements, violent behavior etc.

Generalized Seizures

In this type of epilepsy the site of origin is entire part of the brain. That means the seizures can begin at any part of the brain, which can be convulsive or nonconvulsive. The common types of generalized seizures include:

• Absence (Petil mal) Seizures: This type of generalized seizures is most commonly seen in children of the age group 5 to 12. These types of seizures generally last for about 10 seconds. Brief loss of consciousness, blank staring and subtle body movements are some of the symptoms experience by a person with this type of epilepsy.
• Myoclonic Seizures: This type of generalized seizures may cause a sudden onset of muscle contractions. These may be limited to certain parts of the body or may occur throughout the body. The person may experience sudden jerks or may lose consciousness.
• Tonic-Clonic (Grand mal) Seizures: In tonic phase of this type of seizure a sudden contraction of muscles may cause a person to fall down. But in the clonic phase muscles relax completely returning the muscle tone. The jerking movements experience during tonic phase may stop.
• Atonic Seizures: these types of generalized seizures are also referred to as drop attacks as they cause a person to collapse suddenly.

These were the most common types of epilepsy. Some other types of epilepsy that are not so common include:

• Benign Occipital Epilepsy: It is also referred to as benign focal epilepsy with occipital paroxysms. This type of epilepsy occurs in childhood and can cause temporary blindness.
• Benign Rolandic Epilepsy: This type of epilepsy is also referred to as benign focal epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes and occurs in 15-20 percent of children with epilepsy. It usually occurs at night.
• Frontal Lobe Epilepsy: This type of epilepsy usually involves a group of short seizures with a sudden onset and termination. The symptoms depend on the site of occurrence.
• Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: This is the most common type of epilepsy found in adults. It may cause certain brain structures to shrink over time and may cause hallucinations of tastes, sounds and smells.
• Occipital Lobe Epilepsy: This type of epilepsy generally causes visual hallucinations or eye-related problems like rapid eye blinking.
• Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy: This type of epilepsy causes sudden jerking of arms and shoulders.
• Childhood and Juvenile Absence Epilepsy: People with this type of epilepsy are more likely to have myoclonic fits. The symptoms include eye fluttering or blank staring.
• Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome: This is the most distressing type of childhood epilepsy. This causes frequent seizures of several different types at the same time.
• Infantile spasms (West syndrome): This is the harmful type of epilepsy, which may cause physical or mental retardation if not controlled rapidly as it affects child's head, limbs and torso.