Epilepsy Defined

A seizure is a temporary interruption of brain activity that occurs at times of unusual and excess electrical flows in  a person’s brain cells.
There are other things that may  appear to be  seizure activity having  a root  that is not physical, but emotional.  These are known as Psychogenic, Non-epileptic Seizures (PNES). This type of seizure is not epileptic. The doctor may choose to send you to a psychologist  to help resolve the emotional triggers. If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with PNES, this does not mean that your seizure are in your head, or not real. What it does mean is that the seizures are not caused by misfiring electrical impulses, as is the case in Epilepsy.
Epilepsy
This is a condition of the brain that makes  a person likely to experience repeated and unprovoked seizures. This will be diagnosed after an individual has had at least two  unprovoked seizures, or if future seizures  are likely to occur.  Seizure can occur with other medical issues. These are provoked and not considered Epilepsy.  Some of these are head trauma, drug or alcohol abuse, fevers,  and changes in  a person’s glucose level ( as in diabetes).
Seizure Type
Typically, seizures are c classified as either  partial or  generalized. With a partial seizure, there is activity in one portion of the brain. There can be movement ( right arm jerking, for example), changes affecting the senses,( vision, or sound, or a feeling like electricity in the body). Speech may be affected during the seizure.
There is also a complex -partial seizure that causes  brief l confusion or a charge in  awareness. This types  is frequently misdiagnosed. These seizures may include strange motor movements and sensations. If you or your loved one smack the lips, have chewing motions, or pick absently at clothing or skin, this may indicate a complex-partial seizure.
Generalized Seizures
These are the seizures that most people recognize as such. But these are classified into two categories. Here we find the primary generalized seizure, (which includes the absence seizure and the gran mal seizure), and what is known as a secondarily generalized tonic- clonic seizure.  This last type is the one I am most familiar with, as I have had them myself, though not in a dozen years. My last seizure was a complex-partial seizure, that did not become convulsive.  The last convulsion I had was in 2002. I remember it mostly because I was going through a divorce at the time.
The primary generalized seizure often starts in each hemisphere of the brain and typically has no  well-defined region of beginning. Included in this type are the generalized tonic-clonic seizures (gran mal), absence seizures (petit mal),  the myoclonic seizure, and atonic seizures.

The secondarily generalized tonic clonic seizure starts as a partial seizure or a complex partial 
seizure.  It  eventually  extends  to both cerebral  hemispheres with a generalized convulsion being the end result.