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Seizures

Through continuous monitoring and tailored therapy, we help patients achieve long-term control and peace of mind.

Advanced Epilepsy Management

Epilepsy is a well-known cause of seizures, but many other conditions, including stroke and infectious diseases, can also cause seizures. If you’re worried because you’ve started experiencing seizures, Peter-Brian Andersson, MD, PhD, at Neurology Consulting, Inc. can help. At his offices in Tarzana and Thousand Oaks, California, Dr. Andersson delivers expert diagnosis and effective, up-to-date treatments for epilepsy and other causes of seizures.

Seizures

All Your Questions Answered

What are seizures?

Seizures are disturbances in the electrical pathways of your brain that cause sudden, uncontrollable changes in your behavior, the way you feel, and how you move. The most apparent symptom of a seizure is jerking motions of your arms and legs, but you might experience other symptoms such as confusion, staring into space, a loss of awareness, and feelings of fear or anxiety. Seizures can make you lose consciousness at times. If you’ve had more than two seizures, you’re likely to get a diagnosis of epilepsy, which is the most common cause of seizures. You can also suffer a seizure from a wide variety of other causes, including:
  • Stroke
  • Brain tumor
  • Fever
  • Lack of sleep
  • Low blood sodium (hyponatremia)
  • Certain medications
  • Bleeding in the brain
  • Illegal drug use
  • Alcohol abuse
  • COVID-19 infection

Seizures can come from different areas of your brain and vary in their effects and severity. They normally last between 30 seconds and two minutes – if a seizure continues for more than five minutes, it’s vital to receive emergency medical attention.

There are two types of seizures:

Focal seizures

Focal seizures are those that come from a single specific part of your brain. You might suffer from focal seizures with impaired awareness, where you’re not conscious of what you’re doing and might make repeated movements or stare into space. Or you might get focal seizures without loss of consciousness. In this case, you remain aware of your surroundings but might experience sensory changes and spontaneous movement.

Generalized seizures

Generalized seizures involve your whole brain. Absence seizures (previously called petit mal seizures), which tend to affect children, are one type of generalized seizure. Tonic seizures, atonic seizures, clonic seizures, and myoclonic seizures are types that cause various forms of twitching or other movements. Tonic-clonic seizures (previously grand mal seizures) cause the most dramatic form of epileptic seizures. They can trigger an immediate loss of consciousness, make your body stiffen and shake, and may cause tongue-biting and loss of bladder control.
If you have a single seizure, you might not need treatment. If you need treatment for a condition like epilepsy, the primary approach is medication. There are several anti-seizure medications available. Dr. Andersson aims to find the medication or combination of medicines that work best in preventing your seizures while causing the fewest side effects. This can be a complicated process, but for most people, one that helps them manage their condition successfully. Other therapies that could also help in reducing your seizures include:
  • Vagus nerve stimulation
  • Responsive neurostimulation
  • Deep brain stimulation
  • Dietary therapy

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Compassionate, personalized treatment for a wide range of neurological conditions to help you feel your best.

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