What Are Seizures?
4. What Are Tonic-Clonic Seizures?
It’s common in the movies for seizure patients to fall over, convulse, and be unable to talk or respond. This is a tonic-clonic, convulsive, or “grand mal” seizure. While this symptom profile doesn’t match everybody with this condition, it describes tonic-clonic seizures.
When experiencing a tonic-clonic seizure, the affected person loses consciousness and may fall over to the floor. First, during the tonic phase, most muscles stiffen and the patient may cry, groan, and/or bite their tongue or cheek. Then, the clonic phase ensues and the person will experience rapid, rhythmical, and jerking movements of their extremities. In most people, after 1 to 3 minutes, the episode comes to a stop. However, tonic-clonic seizures that last longer than five minutes are a medical emergency. Similarly, it is also an emergency when a person experiences 3 or more episodes in a row without regaining consciousness between them. Lastly, bear in mind that, after a seizure, a person’s consciousness usually comes back slowly.
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