If the electrical discharge in the brain in limited to one area, the seizure is partial. An aura is a simple partial seizure and can occur alone or can be followed by a generalized seizure. The person will exhibit meaningless behaviours such as random walking, mumbling, head turning or pulling at clothes. These behaviours cannot be recalled by the patient after the seizure. This kind of seizure is characterized by 5 to 15 second lapses of consciousness and when it has ended, the person will not recall this lapse of consciousness.
Generalized absence seizures most often occur in childhood and disappear by adolescence.
They are less prevalent in adulthood. Their muscles will stiffen and their body extremities will jerk and twitch. With this type of seizure, bladder control may be lost, and consciousness is regained slowly. As a person regains consciousness after the seizure, they experience fatigue, confusion and disorientation lasting from five minutes, up to hours or even days and, rarely, as long as one or two weeks. The person may fall asleep or gradually become less confused until full consciousness is regained.