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Can you be conscious for a grand mal seizure/tonic-clonic?

Tue, 07/07/2009 - 19:52

Topic: Living With Epilepsy - Adults

A few weeks ago, at the age of 22, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I have had mainly focal epileptic seizures but recently suffered from a second tonic-clonic seizure in a month.

I was asleep and it was late at night for the first tonic-clonic seizure and I was at the hospital for EEG testing as well as video monitering.

During the second, it was late afternoon, I had suffered from two seizures that day and then after dozing off around 5:30, awoke to my neck turning almost all the way around and my arms twitching, then my body, and then my legs. I rememeber the entire thing... gasping for air and almost losing consiousness. I am currently taking 1500 mg. of Keppra and now will be increasing this dosage to 3000 mg.

I am 22, in perfect health... and now dealing with all of this. It is my knowledge that people that have grand mal seizures or tonic-clonic seizures, lose consciousness. Am I having some sort of different seizure, or what?!?! So confused...

Comments

Re: Can you be conscious for a grand mal seizure/tonic-clonic?

Submitted by heayacap on Wed, 2009-07-08 - 15:03

This is very interesting to me. During my last seizure I was all by myself and wasn't sure if it really was a seizure. I saw myself fall, had the forsight to grab a post rather than a set of free-standing shelves, and I think I yelled and screamed throughout the whole thing "This is not a seizure!" But I couldn't stop kicking and grabbing, and I had that awful panicky sense of falling down a never-ending hole that I get just before coming out of a seizure. I don't know if I was dehydrated, hyperventilating, having a seizure, or a combination of all three, because I had just barely (and I mean just gotten off the treradmill and took 5 steps) finished a 2-mile run. But when I finally got control of myself, I began to panic. Was it a seiezure? Was it not? Should I call someone? Who? My husband was at work, my parents were out of town, should I call my neighbor? I was afraid to use the phone, (why I don't know) and his house is too far to walk (we live in a very rural area). I ran out of the house and lay down on the cool grass and was able to collect my thoughts. Very interesting. I have never had a seizure where no one else was there, and I'm glad someone brought it up.

Re: Can you be conscious for a grand mal seizure/tonic-clonic?

Submitted by 3Hours2Live on Wed, 2009-07-08 - 00:43

Hi kearneygrl01, By definition, a person cannot be conscious during a grand mal/tonic-clonic. A common definition of "Tonic-clonic seizure: A convulsion; newer term for gran mal or major motor seizure; characterized by loss of consciousness, falling, stiffening, and jerking." Epilepsy, by Orrin Devinsky, copyright 2008, page 379. Classifications of epilepsies lose objectivity and validity when they are based on the notion of "consciousness," because "consciousness" has no scientifically acceptable definition. This causes much confusion, and using terms such as "awareness," "responsiveness," "memory," etc. doesn't help much. The official definitions of simple partial, and complex partial seizures have this problem to a greater degree (the definitions are being changed, but are only burying the problems deeper in "sub-sub- definitions. LOL). "The definition of consciousness remains somewhat difficult for the neurologist (and the philosopher, too) especially in terms of the basic neuronal mechanisms. Gloor in 1986 wondered whether 'consciousness really represents a workable neurological concept in epileptology and in neurology in general'; after several thoughtful pages he concluded that in epileptology the terms 'loss' or 'impairment of consciousness' were inadequate. For these reasons we prefer to speak of 'loss of contact.'" Limbic Seizures In Children, Avanzini, Mira, Mai, copyright 2001, Chapter 6. The gaps in memory from a tonic-clonic, from just before the seizure, to after the seizure, also causes confusion in reflecting about the seizure, especially for secondary tonic-clonics. Memories being formed during complex partials is frequent, but corrupted to the extent that the total absence of memory during the secondary tonic-clonic cannot be reliably deduced from existant clues during and after recovery. I hope this helps.

Well, the definition needs to

Submitted by Emilbus187 on Mon, 2018-04-09 - 20:05

Well, the definition needs to change because I have them nearly every single day.

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