Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Myoclonic seizures are sudden, brief, shock-like muscular contractions. They may be generalized or they may be confined to the face and trunk muscles, to one or more of the extremities, or to individual muscle groups.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Atonic seizures (drop attacks or astatic seizures) are characterized by a sudden loss of muscle tone, which may be only fragmentary. This type of seizure may be brief and not associated with loss of consciousness.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Clonic seizures consist of rapidly repetitive bilateral jerking of the extremities and facial muscles with loss of consciousness. The postictal phase is usually short. The EEG typically shows generalized high-voltage, spike-wave activity.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Tonic–clonic seizures (grand mal) cause depressed consciousness that can be prolonged (several hours). The patient exhibits bilaterally symmetric clonic jerking of the extremities, increased salivation and frothing at the mouth.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Tonic–clonic seizures (grand mal) are associated with an abrupt loss of consciousness. The patient experiences a sudden, sharp, bilaterally symmetric contraction of muscles and may cry, fall or do both.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
A subtype of absence seizure is the atypical absence seizure, in which the alteration of consciousness may not be complete. A child experiencing this type of seizure may continue with some activities.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Absence seizures (petit mal) usually have a sudden onset, are brief (often lasting less than 10 seconds), and interrupt ongoing activities. The patient exhibits a blank stare and is usually unresponsive when spoken to.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Generalized seizures involve both hemispheres of the brain from the onset and they result in early loss of consciousness. Generalized seizures may involve only loss of consciousness (similar to absence seizures).

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Complex partial seizures (psychomotor) are associated with impaired consciousness and with some form of automatic behavior. This type of seizure can evolve from a simple partial seizure and can generate a tonic-clonic seizure.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Simple partial (focal) seizures typically result in no alteration of consciousness, and the first clinical and electroencephalogram (EEG) change indicates an initial activation of nerve cells in a limited part of one cerebral hemisphere.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
A large group of nerve cells (neurons) must fire abnormally and together to produce an actual seizure. This firing occurs within certain highly organized areas of the brain that tend to support seizure activity. This is known as an epileptic focus.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Predisposing factors that may cause epilepsy more often are sleep deprivation, hyperventilation, fever from an underlying illness, hormonal changes occurring during menses and drug or alcohol ingestion.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Some cases of epilepsy are hereditary or congenital (present at birth), and some are acquired (e.g., serious head injury, a central nervous system [CNS] infection, stroke, or dementia). However, not all people with these disorders develop epilepsy.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Seizures can occur at any age, with etiology varying by age. The most common cause of epilepsy is idiopathic. Other causes of epilepsy include vascular abnormalities (11%), congenital malformations (8%) and trauma (5%).

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Epilepsy is a complex neurologic disorder best defined as recurrent seizure activity. A single seizure does not constitute epilepsy unless a brain abnormality is identified, which may result in future seizure episodes.