Epilepsy Symptoms

The most recognizable symptom of epilepsy is uncontrollable muscle movement; sometimes people experience a jerk of a single muscle and other times there are rhythmic jerks of the entire body. People can loose total control and fall down, loose consciousness and experience violent shocks for up to a few minutes.

The normal functioning of the senses can be affected. Symptoms include the dulling or loss of the senses, including experiencing strange smells and tastes. There can be visual and auditory hallucinations and the sensation of being poked or feeling numb.

The higher level functioning of the brain is also affected by seizures. People can feel confused and have problems with their memory.

Many psychiatric and neurological conditions can appear to be epileptic events when they are not. In some cases experts are not able to distinguish between epileptic and what is called non-epileptic events.