Simple partial seizure

Simple partial seizures are seizures which affect only a small region of the brain, often the temporal lobes and/or hippocampi. Simple partial seizures are often precursors to larger seizures, where the abnormal electrical activity spreads to a larger area of (or all of) the brain, usually resulting in a complex partial seizure or a tonic-clonic seizure. In this case they are often known as an aura.

Presentation
Simple partial seizures are a very subjective experience, and the symptoms of a simple partial seizure vary greatly between people. This is due to the varying locations of the brain the seizures originate in, and a simple partial seizure may go unnoticed by others or shrugged off by the sufferer as merely a "funny turn". However, there are some common symptoms experienced by those having a simple partial seizure.

Some common symptoms of simple partial seizures are:


 * preserved consciousness
 * sudden and inexplainable feelings of joy, anger, sadness, or nausea
 * experience of unusual feelings or sensations
 * altered sense of hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing, and tactile perception (sensory illusions and/or hallucinations), or feeling as though the environment is not real or detachment from the environment (depersonalization)
 * deja vu (familiarity) or jamais vu (infamiliarity)
 * laboured speech or inability to speak at all
 * amnesia around the seizure event and sometimes events which occurred before the seizure