yb_26automatisms (lip-smacking, picking at his shirt collar) are seen in complex partial seizures. Also absence seizure lasts 10-20sec, not 1-2 minutes.+1
Although terminology has fallen out of favor in some neurology spheres, simple seizures lead to no loss of consciousness and complex seizures lead to loss of consciousness (like this patient who has staring spells where he smacks his lips and does not respond)
Patient has a partial seizure rather than a generalized seizure because he does not show tonic-clonic movements and his aura of smelling burnt rubber and hearing an intense hissing localizes to the temporal lobe, which is the most common cause/site of partial seizures
Important to contrast with absence seizures, which often last for less than 20 seconds (in contrast to 30-90 seconds of partial seizures) and are accompanied by simple automatisms (eyelid fluttering, lip smacking)
submitted by โosler_weber_rendu(160)
Why is this not absence seizure?