What do different types of seizures indicate?
Different seizure types often indicate different causes or syndromes. For instance, brain injury is more likely to cause partial seizures, while many idiopathic epilepsy syndromes cause generalized seizures. Different seizure types may also be treated differently and have different prognoses. Nearly three-quarters of children have had more than one type of seizure. For example, children with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy often have both myoclonic and generalized tonic-clonic seizures at different times. One seizure may progress to a different type of seizure; for instance, partial seizures may become generalized, or a myoclonic seizure may progress to a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. The different types of seizures are discussed in more detail in this section. Click the links on the left to learn more.
