Points to Remember

Although partial seizures affect different physical, emotional, or sensory functions of the brain, they have some things in common:

• They don't last long. Most last only a minute or two, although older people may be confused and need a lot more time afterwards to recover fully.
• They end naturally. Except in rare cases, the brain has its own way of bringing the seizure safely to an end after a minute or two.
• You can't stop them. In an emergency, doctors may use drugs to bring a lengthy, non-stop seizure to an end. However, the average person should wait for the seizure to run its course and try to protect the person from harm while consciousness is clouded.
• People don't feel pain during the seizure, although their muscles may be sore afterwards.
• Seizures are usually not life-threatening, although in senior citizens the extra strain on the heart, the possibility of injury and the reduced intake of oxygen may increase the risk.
• They are not dangerous to others. The movements produced by a seizure are almost always too vague, too unorganized and too confused to threaten the safety of anyone else.