![]() All of which impacts upon the quality of lifestyle. Diagnostic decisions, medications prescribed, and environment. Yet anyway you look at it, there are important distinctions to be made. population will faint during their lifetime, at a cost of more than $1 billion annually. In the United States, the Epilepsy Foundation estimates that approximately $1.7 billion is spent in direct costs on patients with epilepsy and seizures. That’s about twenty-five million Americans (one in every ten) have had, or will have, a seizure at some point in their lives. population will experience seizure-like symptoms in their lifetime. Seizures: Tongue bite, loss of bladder control common.Īnd, as you may say, there are differences in the numbers, too.Īccording to the Epilepsy Foundation, approximately 10 percent of the U.S. Syncope: Pale, washed out, sweating, cold and clammy. Seizures: Confusion, headache, sleepy, focal deficit. Syncope: Only occurs standing or sitting, eyes closed, limp, falls forward, minor twitching, (if unable to fall flat). Seizures: eyes open, rigidity, falls backwards, convulses. Syncope: Only occurs sitting or standing - avoidable by change in posture. Syncope: Faint feeling, light-headed, blurred/darkened vision. Seizures: Usually an aura involving sensory symptoms. Once a person falls to the ground and the blood rushes to their brain, they rapidly regain consciousness.Īfter the episode, they come around rapidly and know where they are and not confused or disoriented.Īre you confused yet? Well to help understand the difference between the two, here’s a brief description of some likenesses and differences between syncope and seizures… Usually the loss of consciousness is not long. Vision may fade or blur, and there may be muffled hearing and tingling sensations in the body.ĭuring the episode, when the person is unconscious, there may a few twitches of the body which can again be confused with seizure activity. There may be symptoms or signs before the syncopal episode, (like auras) which may include:įeeling muscle twitching, shaking, convulsions and physical collapse…a feeling of dizziness or vertigo (with the room spinning). Although they may hurt themselves in the process, it’s only afterward that they understand what has happened. The person is unaware that they’ve passed out and fallen to the ground. However, syncope fainting can cause injury if the person falls and hurts themselves. Syncope is not caused by head trauma, since loss of consciousness after a head injury is considered a concussion. To make it even more confusing, a seizure can sometimes accompany a syncope event and syncope can accompany a seizure! These factors contribute to making the cause of syncope even more difficult to diagnose. Other causes of syncope include some neurological disorders, psychological conditions, and obvious situations such as standing up too fast or being in a hot room. The difference is, an epileptic seizure produces a brief disturbance in the normal electrical functions of the brain, while syncope is caused by a reduction in blood flow carrying oxygen to the brain. ![]() What’s the difference? What’s syncope and what’s a seizure? You could be given cardiac drugs for epileptic seizures and there would be no relief.Įven worse, at least some of the arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms) that cause syncope, but are misdiagnosed as epilepsy, can become fatal if they are not recognized and treated appropriately. Since syncope can mimic the symptoms of some epileptic seizures - such as muscle twitching, shaking, convulsions and physical collapse - the confusion begins.Īnd that confusion can lead to misconceptions and a wrong diagnosis with ineffective medications given.įor example: What if you were given anti-seizure medication for syncope and developed irreversible heart disease? Or vice versa. It can occur with or without warning - as an isolated event - or frequently, over time. Syncope (sing’-koe-pee), the medical term for fainting, is the sudden loss of consciousness and physical collapse due to lack of blood and oxygen to the brain. ![]() Instead, they have a condition known as syncope. Studies have now confirmed what some doctors have long suspected - many young people who are given the diagnosis of epilepsy (or seizure disorder) apparently don’t have epilepsy at all.
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