Non-epileptic seizures
Non-epileptic seizures are divided into two main groups: physiologic and psychological.
• Physiologic (these are “organic” seizures, but are not caused by epilepsy).
- Types
* Syncope (fainting) : when someone faints there is decrease blood flow to the brain. If prolonged enough, it could result in a seizure. That seizure may look very similar to an epileptic seizure. Syncope could be caused by different heart conditions, like cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heart beat), vasovagal (sudden loss of blood flow due to changes in the size of the arteries that take the blood to the brain) among others.
* Low sugar (hypoglycemia): if the sugar level is too low, a convulsion could follow. Usually, palpitations and sweating may also occur. These seizures are mostly seen in patients with diabetes taking medications that lower the sugar (like insulin and others) who can frequently experience changes in the sugar level.
* Changes in the amount of minerals in the blood (Sodium-salt, Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium). For example, low levels of sodium could lead to becoming confused, somnolent (sleepy) and seizures. This could happen for many different reasons; patients with epilepsy could experience this when taking a medication that lowers the sodium like tegretol or trileptal.
* Toxic. There are a number of substances (prescribed medications, alcohol and illicit drugs) that are associated with seizures. See list of medication that could trigger seizures
* Febrile (fever) seizures: Sometimes seizures happen when someone is ill and with a high fever. These types of seizures occur in children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years.
• Psychological
Psychological or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are seizures that look like epileptic seizures, but are not caused by identifiable electrical activity in the brain, rather they are triggered by emotional stress and diverse psychological conditions. PNES are treated with psychotherapy and when necessary, psychiatric medication while epileptic seizures are treated with anticonvulsant medications, diets, pacemakers and surgery. A small percentage of patients may have both types of seizures, epileptic and PNES seizures.