Petit Mal Seizures

When Mrs. Smith was speaking to little Tom, he kept looking straight ahead staring blankly into space. After a few seconds when he responded to the calls of Mrs. Smith, he looked totally confused and said he did not hear a word she spoke. Mrs. Smith sent him to the principal as it was the fourth time in the past 15 days, Tom behaved this way.

Little Tom in the above case study is not being a naughty boy or having behavioral problems. He is suffering from what is called petit mal seizures or absence seizures. These are a type of seizures that occur for a moment, like a couple of seconds. Petit mal seizures in children is very common as it affects people under the age of 20 years. The most common age of observing petit mal seizures in children is about 6 to 12 years. Let us go into the details of absence seizures in the following paragraphs.

Petit Mal Seizures ~ Introduction

Our brain is a complex organ made up of thousands of nerve cells called neurons. These neurons send impulses or messages to each other with the help of electrical signals. When this electrical pattern is disturbed it affects a part or entire brain. When the brain is affected by the abnormal signals, it leads to generalize seizures. There are two types of generalized seizures called tonic-clonic seizures and petite mal seizures. We shall concentrate more on petite mal seizures in this write-up.

A petit mal seizure causes a child to lose consciousness temporarily. This seizure occurs for a suspended moment of about 30 seconds or less. Thus, many times it is hardly noticeable as the symptoms are quick to pass off. A child may suffer from 50 to 100 absence seizures in a day. And none of these may be noticeable to others due to the brief duration of these absence seizures in children. The child suffering from a petit mal seizure symptoms will come back to his/her normal self and without even realizing they had an episode. Most of the time, the child never has any memory of the petit mal seizure.

Petit Mal Seizure Symptoms

The petit mal seizures have a really short duration and are mostly called staring episodes. This is because when a child experiences the symptoms, he/she may stop in mid sentence and stare. Then, within a few seconds, he/she will continue to talk from where it had stopped. This sudden loss of activity causes a lot of problems at school. The child can lose track of what is being taught. This is because he/she may suffer from 50 to 100 spells in a day. When the child suffers from an episode, he is often thought to misbehave or suffer from attention problems. However, the child himself does not remember having a seizure and therefore cannot explain his spell. Some of the petit mal seizure symptoms include:

• Change in muscle activity are no body movements, fluttering of eyelids, etc.
• The child may suffer from consciousness changes like staring, loss of awareness of surroundings, etc
• The seizure may cause the child to suddenly stop doing any activity like taking, walking, laughing, etc
• Seizure lasts for less than a few seconds and the child recovers fully without any memory of episode.

There are atypical petit mal seizures that tend to last longer than normal. When these atypical absence seizures symptoms occur, they are more noticeable as they include:

• Unintentional staring for a long time
• Fumbling hands
• Provocation by hyperventilation
• Lip smacking
• Chewing
• Slow recovery
• Short period of confusion and change in behavior
• Petit mal seizure may change into a grand mal seizure

Petit Mal Seizure Treatment

Petit mal seizures cannot be prevented in any way. However, treatment can help to keep the condition in control. The treatment for petit mal seizures in children includes use of medication like ethosuximide, lamotrigine or valproic acid. The treatment for petit mal seizures in children usually lasts for two years.

Most of the children with petit mal seizures tend to outgrow their condition. However, treatment is necessary as it will reduce the number of absence seizure spells and make life easy for the child. Petite mal seizures do not cause any damage to the brain or affect the normal development of the child. Speak to a doctor, if your child is regularly suffering from brief periods of sudden staring, day dreaming, etc.