Making sense of what happens
Seizure Types and Auras: Understanding What Happens
Seizures can involve a brief change in feeling, a pause in activity, unusual movements or a loss of consciousness. They do not all look alike. This guide helps adults and families understand the names, describe what happened and bring useful questions to the care team.
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Choose a useful starting point
Understand the names
Start with the four main groups and the words you may see in a report.
Make a useful note
Use a short, private worksheet to describe the event in your own words.
Help someone now
Go straight to first aid if an event is happening or someone needs help.
On this page
- Safety comes before naming the seizure
- The four main seizure groups
- What seizures can look or feel like
- An aura can itself be a seizure
- Old and new words in your medical record
- Recovery is part of the story
- A private worksheet: What I noticed
- Questions for the care team
- Optional: what researchers are exploring
Safety comes before naming the seizure
When to get emergency help
Call 911 in the U.S., or your local emergency number, for a first known seizure, a seizure that reaches 5 minutes (or an earlier threshold in the person's action plan), another seizure soon after, especially without recovery, trouble breathing or waking afterward, injury, or a seizure in water. Also call if the person is pregnant, or has diabetes and loses consciousness. Follow the dispatcher's instructions.
Stay with the person, time the event and clear nearby hazards. Do not hold them down or put anything in their mouth. If they are lying down, turn them gently onto their side when safe. First aid and the person's prescribed action plan take priority over taking notes or filming.
The four main seizure groups
The International League Against Epilepsy updated its classification in 2025. These groups describe epileptic seizures; deciding whether an unexplained event was a seizure is a separate clinical question.
Focal
The seizure begins in a network on one side of the brain. It may stay there or spread. A person may remain aware and responsive, or consciousness may be affected.
Generalized
The seizure rapidly involves networks on both sides of the brain. This does not mean every part of the brain is involved. Absence and generalized tonic-clonic seizures are examples.
Unknown whether focal or generalized
Some features of the seizure are known, but the available information does not establish which of these two groups it belongs to.
Unclassified
The clinician considers the event an epileptic seizure, but there is not enough information to characterize it. More information may allow a clearer name later.
The seizure type is one part of a diagnosis. It is different from the cause of epilepsy or an epilepsy syndrome, which describes a broader pattern. A person can have more than one seizure type. Ask the team to write down the name and explain what supports it.
What seizures can look or feel like
These are examples to help you describe an event. A description alone cannot confirm epilepsy or pinpoint where a seizure starts.
A change only the person feels
A focal seizure can involve an unusual smell or taste, a rising stomach sensation, sudden fear or a feeling of déjà vu. Someone watching may notice very little.
A pause or change in response
A person may stare, stop an activity, have difficulty responding, or make repeated movements such as picking at clothes. Several seizure types and other conditions can look similar.
Absence seizures
These generalized seizures cause brief interruptions in consciousness, sometimes with eyelid movements. Recovery is often quick. A staring spell should be assessed rather than automatically labeled absence.
Tonic-clonic seizures
The body stiffens and then makes rhythmic jerking movements, with loss of consciousness. These can be generalized, develop from a focal seizure, or have an uncertain beginning.
Brief jerks or stiffening
Myoclonic describes brief, sudden jerks. Tonic describes stiffening. These words describe movement; the care team uses the full pattern to identify the seizure type.
Sudden loss of muscle tone
Atonic seizures involve a sudden reduction or loss of muscle tone and can cause a head drop or fall. Falls have other possible causes, and different seizure types can also cause them.
Try to describe the sequence: what happened first, what changed next and how the event ended. Looking to one side, shaking on one side or feeling a particular sensation is useful information for the clinician; it is not a reliable way to diagnose yourself or locate a seizure on your own.
An aura can itself be a seizure
In epilepsy, an aura can be a focal seizure in its own right, often with consciousness preserved. It may remain a feeling or sensation, or be the beginning of a seizure that develops further. It still matters when there is no shaking or loss of consciousness afterward.
Not everyone has an aura. Those who do may experience a similar feeling each time, such as an unfamiliar smell, a stomach sensation or a dream-like sense of familiarity. Tell the team about these episodes, including ones that occur on their own.
A familiar sensation is a clue, not a diagnosis
Déjà vu also occurs in everyday life, and migraine or other conditions can cause unusual sensations. Having one of these feelings does not establish epilepsy. Describe what you experienced, how long it lasted and whether it repeated in a similar way.
Ask what to do if your usual aura occurs and what changes should prompt a call. Any rescue medicine instructions should come from your own prescription and action plan.
Old and new words in your medical record
Older records and websites may use different names for similar events. A change in wording does not necessarily mean your seizures have changed.
- Partial is an older term for focal. You may also see focal-onset in earlier reports.
- Simple partial / focal aware and complex partial / focal impaired awareness are earlier labels. Current descriptions use focal seizures with preserved or impaired consciousness.
- Secondarily generalized is an older name for a focal seizure that spreads to become a focal-to-bilateral tonic-clonic seizure.
- Grand mal and petit mal are older, less precise terms. Ask for the specific current name rather than guessing from these labels.
The 2025 classification considers both awareness and responsiveness when describing consciousness. The team may ask what you remember and how you responded compared with your usual abilities. Open eyes do not by themselves establish preserved consciousness. Tell them about communication or movement difficulties that could affect a response.
Recovery is part of the story
The recovery period is sometimes called the postictal phase. Some people recover quickly; others feel tired, confused, have a headache or need time before they feel like themselves. The pattern can depend on the seizure. Keep the event duration and recovery time as separate observations.
Ask what recovery usually looks like for you or the person you support, and when to get help. Trouble breathing or waking afterward, or another seizure without recovery, needs emergency help. Do not assume an unexpected change is simply normal recovery.
A private worksheet: What I noticed
Copy these prompts into your own notes or use your browser's Print command. There is no form to submit here. Keep identifying details and videos private, and share them with your care team in the way they recommend.
Free one-page PDF. No email required. Version 2026.10.12, October 12, 2026. You can also use the prompts below in your own notes.
- Time and setting. Date, start time, where you were and what you were doing. How long did the event last? Mark an estimate as an estimate; write ‘not seen’ if the beginning was missed.
- Before. What did you feel or notice first? Include any aura, illness, sleep change or missed medicine, if relevant. A pattern you notice is something to discuss, not proof of a cause.
- During. Describe what happened in order: sensations, speech, response, staring, movements, breathing or color changes. Which body parts were involved? Use everyday words; you do not need to name the seizure.
- Memory and response. What do you remember? What did someone else notice when they spoke to you? Describe how this differed from your usual communication or movement.
- Recovery and help. When did the event stop, and when did you feel back to your usual self? Note confusion, sleepiness, pain, injury, help given and any prescribed rescue medicine used.
- Witness and follow-up. Who saw it, and what did they see firsthand? Keep their account separate from what you remember. Write one question you want the care team to answer.
Help first; record only when safe
A video may help a clinician, but it must not delay first aid, prescribed rescue treatment or emergency help. Discuss consent and privacy in advance whenever possible. If recording is safe and consistent with the person's wishes, share it privately with the team; do not post it publicly. A written description is useful too.
Questions for the care team
Choose two or three questions that fit what you need to understand now.
- Was this likely an epileptic seizure? What other explanations are being considered?
- What is the current name for my seizure type, and what information supports it? Is anything still uncertain?
- Do the sensations I call an aura count as seizures? Which episodes should I record and report?
- Would a witness account, video or EEG help answer the remaining questions? How should I share them securely?
- What recovery should we expect, and which changes mean we should call you or get emergency help?
- Does the seizure type change our treatment or safety plan? Can we have a written action plan for each type?
Optional: what researchers are exploring
These summaries cover particular papers. They add context to the explanations above and cannot determine an individual's diagnosis or replace their action plan.
Déjà vu during focal seizures
A systematic review of 22 publications covering 597 people explored the meaning of seizure-related memory experiences in surgery evaluation. A symptom alone did not reliably pinpoint one brain area.
Home videos as a clinical aid
A review considered videos recorded without EEG. These may support assessment, but the abstract gives no numerical accuracy estimates. A video does not record the brain's electrical activity or replace clinical evaluation.
Recognizing eyelid myoclonia over time
A retrospective study of 27 children with this specific epilepsy syndrome found that its features were sometimes recognized later. It does not establish the meaning of every eyelid movement or which medicine is best.
Sources and page information
Seizure names follow the 2025 ILAE classification; practical explanations draw on CDC and Epilepsy Foundation patient guidance. Sources and linked research abstracts checked October 12, 2026. Research cards describe the limits of their particular papers.
- ILAE: 2025 seizure classification
- CDC: seizure types
- Epilepsy Foundation: current seizure names
- Epilepsy Foundation: auras and recovery
- Epilepsy Foundation: focal seizures and similar symptoms
- Epilepsy Foundation: absence seizures
- Epilepsy Foundation: observing and recording events
- CDC: seizure first aid
- Epilepsy Foundation: prolonged seizures and status epilepticus
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