Coping with Side Effects: Seizures
One of the more misunderstood symptoms of some brain tumors is a seizure. In order to help patients and caregivers alike understand this symptom, we have provided some general information about seizures below.
What is a seizure?
A seizure is a sudden alteration of behavior due to a temporary change in the electrical functioning of the brain, especially the cortex. It may be an alteration in behavior, consciousness, movement, perception, and/or sensation. Epilepsy is the tendency to have recurrent seizures.
Some characteristics of seizures can include:
- Uncontrolled movements such as shaking of arms or legs
- Loss of consciousness which may consist of a complete collapse or simply staring into space. Afterwards the person will not remember this event.
- Fainting spells with incontinence or followed by excessive fatigue
- Odd sounds, distorted perceptions, sudden feelings of fear for no apparent reason
What happens during a seizure?
A seizure occurs when the normal electrical balance in the brain is lost. The brain's nerve cells misfire. They either fire when they shouldn't or don't fire when they should. The result is a sudden, brief, uncontrolled burst of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Seizures are the physical effects of such unusual bursts of electrical energy in the brain.
During a seizure, out-of-sync signals from the brain travel along the nervous system pathway to sensors, such as the nerves that sense light in the eyes or the nerves that flex muscles. These misfiring signals may keep the brain from understanding what the eyes see, so the person stares during a seizure. Or they may affect leg muscle tone and cause a person to fall down. The type of seizure depends on how many cells fire and which area of the brain is involved.