Symptoms of adult myoclonic seizures

What is myoclonus? What causes myoclonus? What are the types of myoclonus? What do scientists know about myoclonus?

The only symptom of epilepsy is the recurrence of seizures, but not all epileptic seizures are the same. Some seizures cause obvious physical movements or loss of consciousness, but in other cases a seizure might not be visible to a bystander — not even a health professional. Epileptic seizures can vary by the type of epilepsy causing them. Partial epilepsy also known as focal epilepsy causes local seizures that originate in a very specific part of the brain the focus of the seizure , but these seizures can spread across the brain to become generalized seizures. Some seizures consist only of the tonic phase of a grand mal seizure. Atonic seizures also called drop seizures, akinetic seizures, or drop attacks are characterized by a sudden loss of muscle tone that causes an individual to collapse.

It describes a medical sign and, generally, is not a diagnosis of a disease. These myoclonic twitches , jerks , or seizures are usually caused by sudden muscle contractions positive myoclonus or brief lapses of contraction negative myoclonus. The most common circumstance under which they occur is while falling asleep hypnic jerk. Myoclonic jerks occur in healthy people and are experienced occasionally by everyone.

This material must not be used for commercial purposes, or in any hospital or medical facility. Failure to comply may result in legal action. Medically reviewed by Drugs. Last updated on Nov 16, A seizure is a burst of electrical activity in your brain.