Even minor stimuli can trigger a seizure in people with epilepsy. Symptoms Epileptic seizures are sometimes classified by their characteristics. Simple partial seizures begin with electrical discharges in a small area of the brain, and the discharges remain confined to that area. The person experiences abnormal sensations, movements, or psychic aberrations, depending on the part of the brain affected. The person may stagger, move the arms and legs in strange and purposeless ways, utter meaningless sounds, fail to understand what others say, and resist help.
Confusion lasts for several more minutes, followed by full recovery.
The discharge quickly spreads to adjoining parts of the brain, causing the entire area to malfunction. In primary generalized epilepsy, abnormal discharges over a large area of the brain cause widespread malfunction from the beginning. In either case, a convulsion is the body's reaction to the abnormal discharges. In these convulsive seizures, a person experiences a temporary loss of consciousness, severe muscle spasms and jerking throughout the body, intense turning of the head to one side, clenching of teeth, and loss of bladder control. Afterward, the person may have a headache, be temporarily confused, and feel extremely tired.