Epilepsy history and symptoms

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Fahimeh Shojaei, M.D.

History and Symptoms

History

• Patients with epilepsy may have a positive history of:
  • Family history
  • Brain traumatic injuries
  • Meningitis and encephalitis
  • Febrile seizure in the childhood
  • Enuresis
  • Drug abuse
  • Previous episode of seizure:
    • When was the first episode?
    • Tongue biting?
    • Urine or fecal incontinence?
    • Post-ictal drowsiness?
    • Seizure characteristics?
    • Triggers?
    • Eyes condition? (open or close)
    • Amnesia?

Common Symptoms

• Common symptoms of epileptic seizures include:
  • They happen in a paroxysmal manner such as sudden fall, loss of consciousness or automatic behaviors (repetitive movement).
  • Seizures are often similar to each other in a patient in the aspect of duration and general characteristics.
  • They usually present with a motor phenomena which can be accompanied with sensory and autonomic manifestation.
  • Based on the type of seizure, consciousness might be impaired or intact.
  • Patients may have aura before seizure such as nausea, warmth sensation or spark visualization.
  • There might be triggers for the seizure such as alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation and fever.
  • There can be post-ictal drowsiness in patients.
  • There can be tongue biting which mostly happens in seizures with impaired consciousness.
  • urine and fecal incontinence may be present.

Less Common Symptoms

Less common symptoms of epilepsy include:

• [Symptom 1]
• [Symptom 2]
• [Symptom 3]