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An aura is a seizure itself !

Wed, 07/06/2011 - 19:35

An aura is a seizure itself !

When either a simple partial seizure and or a complex partial seizure advances into a tonic clonic seizure (old name grand mal), those are the only times when the partial seizures are labeled as being an "aura". If a simple partial seizure does not advance into a tonic clonic seizure, then that simple partial seizure is simply nothing more than just a simple partial seizure. If a complex partial seizure does not advance into a tonic clonic seizure, then that complex partial seizure is simply nothing more than just a complex partial seizure.

The amount of time it takes in order for a partial seizure to advance into a tonic clonic seizure, can not only vary from person to person, it can vary from seizure to seizure. What I don't know is if there is a specific amount of time allowed from in between a partial seizure taking place that eventually does advance into a tonic clonic seizure, in order for that partial seizure to be labeled as being an "aura". For example, let's say someone experiences a simple partial seizure, which within a few minutes does advance into a tonic clonic seizure, then that simple partial seizure is labeled as being an aura. However, if a simple partial seizure takes place lasting for less than 5 minutes, then let's say maybe somewhere between 30 to 60 minutes later the same person experiences a tonic clonic seizure, I do not know if that simple partial seizure would be labeled as being an aura.

When a partial seizure does advance into a tonic clonic seizure, all of that combined together is called a "Partial Seizure Secondarily Generalized Tonic Clonic Seizure." If a aura (warning) does not take place before a person has a tonic clonic seizure, then it is to my understanding that the tonic clonic seizure is called a "Primary Generalized Tonic Clonic Seizure."

So what is an aura? An aura is a seizure itself.

Comments

Re: An aura is sometimes a seizure itself !

Submitted by 3Hours2Live on Thu, 2011-07-07 - 03:42
Hi Spike, I like the definition of an epileptic aura as "an epileptic seizure without direct motor involvement". Maybe the modifier "epileptic" in "epileptic aura" is reduntant in a forum about epilepsy, but, for instance, migraine and epilepsy are very often comorbid, and "aura" is also used with the classifications of migraine. The phrase "an epileptic seizure" helps with avoiding confusion with all the other types of "seizures". The phrase "without direct motor involvement" might help with excluding both negative and positive physical movement resulting directly from a seizure (i.e., a seizure can directly stop, or prevent, a physical action, or a seizure can directly cause a physical action (all excluded under the defined restrictive use of the word "aura")). The word "directly" is used to seperate any primary movement (or its cessation) with the seizure "modus operandi", versus secondary movement resultant from the aura operating as a stimulus to take action (for instance an aura of "intense sensation of fear" being a stimulus to take off running or to take refuge from the open environment for shelter and protection). To avoid "Plain English" confusion, "to take action" might be more clarifying as "for an Skinnerian operant (response)". Any further restrictions for usages of the phrase "epileptic aura" results in unnecessary confusion. For instance, some restrictions would make the quoted sentence "Successful surgery can be curative; 66% of patients are estimated to be seizure-free or have only auras [102] after anterior temporal lobectomy" self-contradictory with any more restrictive definition of "aura" requiring the presence of following more severe seizures. From "Chronic disorders with episodic manifestations: focus on epilepsy and migraine" by Haut, Bigal, Lipton (Lancet Neurol. 2006 February; 5(2): 148–157), (in section "Epilepsy as a structural disorder, sub-section "Surgery", 3rd sentence (page 10 pdf)). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1457022/ Restricting "aura" to simple partial seizures is confounding with the notion of "consciousness" (which is nowhere defined with a valid and objective definition), but with necessarily sloppy usages of the term "consciousness", aura also frequently occur with, and meeting the definition of, complex partial seizures. The term "aura" does not require a subsequent tonic-clonic of any kind. This lack of requirement precludes any necessarily restrictive range of time limits until a definition-ly un-required tonic-clonic with a prior aura. Simple partial and complex partial seizures without any aura can also lead to secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures. "Primary" means something else, which usually excludes sharp notions of "focal origin" and "path". From an opposite direction of definition, an "epileptic aura" is an epileptic seizure limited to only "sensations", with the definitional confusions of "emotional sensations" and/or "sense sensations". More "official" versions are: "2.1 AURA Noun: A subjective ictal phenomenon that, in a given patient, may precede an observable seizure; if alone, constitutes a sensory seizure." "2.2 SENSORY A perceptual experience not caused by appropriate stimuli in the external world. Modifies 'seizure' or 'aura'." "2.2.1.8 AUTONOMIC A sensation... ...(Thus 'autonomic aura'...." "3.1 AUTONOMIC AURA...." "6.0 DURATION...." From: Epilepsia 42(9):1212-1218, 2001, sometimes at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1528-1157.2001.22001.x/abstract I previously cited these definitions at www-dot-epilepsy-dot-com/node/992326, under the forum "I Was Told I Have Auras" (10/18/2010). Tadzio

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