It’s also common for people to feel strong feelings that something bad will happen and other signs of intense fear. Panic/anxiety attacks - Among other things, panic attacks can cause confusion, the sense that surroundings aren’t real, dizziness, sweating, and feeling out of control. These types of disorders will not change electrical levels in the brain, but the sudden movements they cause can look similar to seizures at first glance. Movement disorders - Tics, tremors, and other involuntary movements can look like a myoclonic seizure or focal seizure, but they may be caused by things like Tourette’s syndrome, Parkinson’s disorder, Huntington’s disease, and other disorders that affect the brain. Some migraines can include things like loss of consciousness, confusion, numbness, paralysis, sensitivity to light and sound, mood swings, and hallucinations.Īll of these symptoms can easily be confused as seizures, as they can all cause unpredictable movements and behaviours. Migraines - Like fainting, migraines are very common and may share many of the same symptoms of a seizure. When people have involuntary movements after fainting, it’s called convulsive syncope, which may look very similar to a seizure but is actually a common symptom of fainting. They are also referred to as syncope and cause a loss of consciousness and sudden involuntary movements like twitching or muscle spasms. Here are some of the most common events that may appear similar, but are not a seizure.įainting - One of the most common events is fainting. The seizure may also be a symptom of something else, or may even be completely harmless. Some non-epileptic events are thought to have a psychological basis. Non-epileptic seizures (NES) are characterized by events that resemble epileptic seizures but are not caused by epileptic activity in the brain. They may be a symptom of something else or they may even be completely harmless. Some events look like seizures, but they may not be a seizure at all. Seizures are known to present a wide range of movements or behaviors that can be easy to confuse with other things. Why having descriptions of the event is important It’s only by studying the electrical activity in the brain during an event that a doctor can differentiate between what is and isn’t a seizure.

A seizure with a loss of consciousness or fainting because of low blood sugar can look similar to an observer.įor doctors trying to diagnose seizures, this can present a challenge, especially if they were unable to see the event first-hand.

Many events can cause unusual behaviours that may look like a seizure. Until a diagnosis is made, some doctors may refer to your seizures as “events”.

Absence seizure without eeg changes