Spotting The Symptoms Subscribe to our newsletter. Although we talk about epilepsy as if it were a single condition there are over 40 different types of seizures and they affect us in different ways. Just as no two people with blue eyes share the exact hue and shape, each one of us will experience epilepsy in a way that is unique. To make things even more confusing, in recent years the medical names given to various types of seizures have changed so you may hear them described in different ways. The main thing to bear in mind is that seizures can be of two types - generalised or partial.
Generalized seizures involve the whole brain.
Partial seizures, as the name suggests, start in just one part of the brain. They can be either simple partial seizures or complex partial seizures but either way the electrical discharge may stay in one spot or may spread to the rest of the brain. Most seizures strike completely out of the blue. However some of us can pinpoint certain factors which spark them off. Stress - some of us experience more seizures during periods of anxiety or stress.