Petit Mal

Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes recurrent seizures if it is not treated.

Petit mal. However loss of consciousness even for such a short time. A petit mal seizure involves a brief loss of awareness which can be accompanied by blinking or mouth twitching. An absence seizure is a generalized onset seizure which means it begins in both sides of the brain at the same time. If someone suddenly stops in their tracks or seems to blank out and become non responsive she may be having a petit mal seizure.

Absence seizures or petit mal seizures are brief usually less than 15 seconds and they have symptoms that may be barely noticeable. Like other kinds of seizures they are caused by brief abnormal electrical activity in a person s brain. Most petit mal seizures only last about 15 seconds so don t assume that someone didn t have a petit mal seizure just because she stopped or froze up for a few seconds. Absence seizures are characterized by a brief loss and return of consciousness generally not followed by a.

Petit mal seizures are most common in children and teenagers. An indication of simple absence seizure is a vacant stare which may be mistaken for a lapse in attention that lasts about 10 seconds though it may last as long as 20 seconds without any confusion headache or drowsiness afterward. A form of epilepsy with very brief unannounced lapses in consciousness. A child with repeated absence seizures is said to have childhood absence epilepsy or petit mal epilepsy.

An older term is petit mal seizures. Normally the brain s. Side effects may include rash and nausea. Affecting about two of every 1 000 people absence seizures formerly called petit mal seizures are caused by abnormal and intense electrical activity in the brain.

These episodes are distinguished from longer seizures that often involve convulsions and a prolonged loss of consciousness sometimes called grand mal seizures. Petit mal seizures have a very characteristic appearance on an electroencephalogram eeg. Most often it starts between the ages of 4 and 15 years. Absence seizures are one of several kinds of generalized seizures these seizures are sometimes referred to as petit mal seizures from the french for little illness a term dating from the late 18th century.

Doctors may recommend the use of valproic acid in children who have both absence and grand mal tonic clonic seizures.