Frontal Lobe Seizures or Epilepsy: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Recovery, Prevention

Frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy is a neurological disorder, in which the sufferer experiences recurrent seizures in their brain’s frontal lobes. Frontal Lobe Seizures or Epilepsy mostly occurs when the sufferer is asleep.

A nocturnal frontal lobe seizure is an epileptic disorder that leads to violent seizures that occurs while sleeping. Seizures invoke unexpected and sudden body movements, like arm raising, bending of knee, hand clenching and so on.

Frontal lobe seizure or epilepsy personality is a syndrome that leads to egocentricity and impulsiveness. Some of the people believe that this syndrome results from an underlying neurologic factors. While some believe that the personality inhibits represents varying types of epilepsy. Earlier, it was felt that the only way to overcome or treat this condition is taking psychoanalytic therapy.

As the exact cause of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy is to be known, but it is believed that it can be caused to various abnormalities like stroke, brain tumor (in brain’s frontal lobes), infection, injury or abnormal flow of blood to the brain. Frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy can also be caused because of inherited disorder commonly known as autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy. In case any of the parents have this problem then there are 50 percent chances that you may inherit the infected gene from your parent.

Experts say that the frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy last only for less than 30 seconds and it usually occurs while sleeping. It most of the cases recovery is very fast. Some of the common symptoms of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy are:

• Difficulty in speaking or complete/partial paralysis is a symptom of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy.
• Abnormal body movement or posture.
• Head or eye movement is restricted to one side.
• Repetition of movement such as pedaling the bicycling, rocking and so on.

If any of the above symptoms are seen then one should immediately visit a doctor for medical assistance.

Symptoms of frontal temporal lobe seizures or epilepsy include:

• Simple partial seizures, like auras and focal seizures.
• Complex impairment caused when the person is in consciousness.
• Fear, anxiety, panic behavior and nausea are also some of the commonly seen symptoms.
• Some people also sense unusual smell.

There is an inevitable association between seizures and night terror. People suffering from seizures often experience excess sleep during day time. Some of the common night terrors include obstructive sleep apnea, sleepwalking and an excess feeling of fear while in sleep.

Doctors suggest following test for diagnosing frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy:

• EEG i.e. Electroencephalogram monitors and reflects the electrical activity happening in brain. They identify this by attaching a series of electrodes to patient’s scalp. In majority of cases, EEGs is very useful in diagnosing frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy.
• Video EEG test is performed by getting the patient admitted in the hospital because it is performed during night when the patient is fast asleep. In this test along with EEG monitor a video camera is also attached with patient’s body, which runs overnight. With the help of this setup, doctors get to know what physically occurs in the body when a patient has frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy and what effect it has on the EEG at the time.
• Another way to diagnose frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy is by brain scan. As discussed above injuries, tumor and abnormal blood flow in body are the chief cause of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy. Performing an MRI for getting brain image is helpful in getting the exact source for the same. For MRI, doctors make use of various radio waves and powerful magnetic field for generating different images of soft tissues of brain. Patient who undergo MRI have to lie down on a narrow pallet, which slowly slides inside a long tube like structure. The test is painless, but some people may feel claustrophobic in the long tube, on an average the test last for almost an hour.

Doctors review the pre-surgical surface EEGs of patients who are about to undergo a surgery for the treatment of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy. Findings of EEG may vary from one person to another; this is so because findings depend on the specific areas where frontal lobe is located.

In the past few years, various new treatment techniques have been found by experts for treating frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy. Doctors now have many new antiseizure medicines.

Antiseizure medicines prove to be of great help for treating frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy, but as the severity varies from one person to another, hence; only medication may not be sufficient for making a patient seizure free. Doctors may prescribe various medicines or at times even combination of different medicine for controlling the effect of seizure. However, researchers are still making effort to make new inventions for treating seizure via medication only.

When medicines fail to show its effect and fail to control seizures then doctors suggest surgery. In majority of cases surgery performed for treating frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy is successful. While performing the surgery, doctors first point out the exact area of brain where seizure is actually present. For this purpose, two new techniques are been used by doctors they are, SPECT i.e. single-photon emission computerized tomography and SISCOM i.e., subtraction ictal SPECT co registered to MRI. Both of these techniques are very full in pinpointing the exact location of seizures in brain.

In addition, brain mapping is another very common technique which is usually performed by doctors before performing the frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy surgery on patients. Surgery for seizure may include these four steps removing the focal point, isolating the focal point, stimulating the vagus nerve and responding to a seizure.

Before opting for surgery doctors try their best to treat the situation with one or combination of different medications. It is only when they feel that the situation cannot be controlled with medicines they go for surgery. Before performing surgery doctors perform serious of tests to know the exact condition of patient and whether the patient is in a situation to undergo surgery or not. The success rate of frontal lobe seizure is very high.

Simple seizure last for less than 30 seconds and get cured on its own without any medication. However, in case the condition in serious and seizure last for more than 15 seconds then medical help is very much required. Recovery period or healing time for frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy various from one individual to another depending on the condition, on an average it may take few months to almost a year.

Some of the simple though effective prevention measures include:

• Quite alcohol and smoking.
• Taking adequate sleep.
• Leading stress free life.

Active lifestyle is the best way to prevent frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy. Opting for these healthy measures can help in preventing frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy.

As frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy is associated with brain, hence; in case the problem persists then patient may suffer various other brain related problem. Some of the problems can even be life threatening, hence; medical help and treatment is very much required for patient suffering from frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy.

Some of the common complications of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy include:

• Injury is a complication of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy. At times, the person suffering from this problem may end up facing severe or mild injury.
• Another complication of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy is SUDEP i.e., Sudden unexplained death in epilepsy. People suffering from this problem are highly prone to dying unexpected death. Some of the possible factors that lead to death are breathing issues, hereditary issues or heart problems.
• Status Epilepticus is one of the severe complications because frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy occur in clusters and can invoke some for the very serious or complicated medical condition known as epilepticus. In epilepticus the effects of Frontal lobe seizures last for far more duration than the usual time. In case the effects last for more than 5 minutes then availing immediate medical help is very crucial.
• Other brain functions can also be affected if the problem of frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy is ignored. Based on the duration and frequency of seizures the disease can affect motor skills, memory and other normal functions of brain.

One should opt for an active lifestyle by performing exercises. One should completely avoid junk & unhealthy food, instead; include healthy and nutritious food in daily diet. Proper sleep and stress free life can actually contribute in curing or preventing frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy.

People who suffer from frontal lobe seizures or epilepsy often face a lot of embarrassment often because of their sudden raise in the voice or their sexual movement. This is the situation where family members should give moral support to patients and should motivate them to have positive outlook towards life. In addition, one can also cope by take help from counselors to express their true feelings.

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Also Read:

• What are Nocturnal Seizures