• No loss of consciousness

• May alter emotions or change the way things look, smell, feel, taste or sound.

Complex partial seizures:

• Alter consciousness, causing loss of awareness for a period of time.

• Staring and nonpurposeful movements — such as hand rubbing, lip smacking, arm positioning, vocalization or swallowing.

• Staring

• subtle body movement

• Brief lapses of awareness.

Myoclonic seizures:

• sudden jerks of your arms and legs.

Atonic seizures:

• Known as drop attacks

• Cause you to suddenly collapse or fall down.

Tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal):

• Most intense of all types of seizures

• Loss of consciousness

• Body stiffening and shaking

• Sometimes tongue biting or loss of bladder control.

• Loosen any tight clothing around the neck

• Protect the person from injury (remove sharp or hard objects from the vicinity; or guide the person away from danger)

• Cushion the person's head if they fall down

• Help breathing by gently placing the person on his or her side if they have fallen over. Be quietly reassuring (stay with them until they come round. Go over any missed events if they have had an absence).

Don't

• Try to restrain the person having the seizure

• Put anything in the person's mouth or force anything between his/her teeth

• Try to move them unless they are in danger

• Give anything to drink

Advise from your physician

• The seizure lasts more than five minutes.

• Recovery from your seizure is slow.

• A second seizure follows immediately.

• You're pregnant or have diabetes.

• Your seizures change in frequency and severity.

• There's a change in the way you feel during and after the seizures.

• Your seizure is preceded by a sudden, severe headache or other symptoms or signs of stroke — including weakness or numbness on one side of your body, vision loss, confusion, and coordination or speech problems.