Hi, this is Tom, and in this episode I'm going to be going through epilepsy, particularly

epilepsy and children. And you can find written notes at zero to finals.com slash epilepsy or in the

zero to finals pediatrics book. And you can also find notes which are perfect for revising for exams in the

Zero to Finals Finals Revision Book, which is now available at zero to finals shop.com. So let's jump

straight in. Epilepsy is a condition characterized by seizures. Seizures are transient episodes of abnormal electrical

activity in the brain. Let's go through the types of seizure. The types of seizure seen in

adults and children include generalized tonic clonic seizures, focal seizures,

myoclonic seizures, tonic seizures, and atonic seizures. We'll talk in more detail about

each one of these shortly. The types of seizures that are primarily seen in children as opposed to adults include

absence seizures, infantile spasms and febrile convulsions. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures

involve tonic, meaning muscle tensing, and clonic, meaning muscle jerking,

movements that are associated with a complete loss of consciousness.

Typically, the tonic phase comes before the clonic phase.

They are also called grand mal seizures.

There may be tongue biting, incontinence, groaning and irregular breathing during the seizure.

After the seizure, there is a prolonged post-dictal period where the person is confused, tired and irritable or low. Focal seizures occur in an isolated brain area. They may affect hearing, speech, memory or emotions. Patients remain awake and aware during focal-aware seizures, which were previously called

simple partial seizures, but they lose consciousness during focal impaired awareness seizures,

which were previously called complex partial seizures.

Essentially, there's two types of focal seizures, focal awareness seizures.

There are various symptoms associated with focal seizures, depending on the location of the abnormal

electrical activity, such as a sensation of deja vu,

strange smells, tastes, vision or sound sensations, unusual emotions, and abnormal behaviors.

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