The type of aura experienced varies from person to person. Some people feel a change in body temperature, others experience a feeling of tension or anxiety. In some cases, the epileptic aura will be apparent to the person as a musical sound, a strange taste, or even a particular curious odour. If the person is able to give the physician a good description of this aura, it may provide a clue to the part of the brain where the initial discharges originate. An aura could occur without being followed by a seizure, and in some cases can by itself be called a type of simple partial seizure.
Epilepsy is the oldest known brain disorder.
It was mentioned more than 2,000 years before Christ. References can be found in ancient Greek texts and in The Bible. It wasn't until the mid 1800's, however, that Epilepsy was given serious study. Sir Charles Locock was the first to introduce a sedative that aided in controlling seizures in 1857. In 1870, John Hughlings Jackson identified the brain's outer layer, the cerebral cortex, as the part involved in Epilepsy.