An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain".

[1] The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement (tonic-clonic seizure) or as mild as a brief loss of awareness (absence seizure). It can manifest as an alteration in mental state, tonic or clonic movements, convulsions, and various other psychic symptoms (such as dj vu or jamais vu). Sometimes it is not accompanied by convulsions but a full body "slump", where the person simply will lose body control and slump to the ground. The medical syndrome of recurrent, unprovoked seizures is termed epilepsy, but seizures can occur in people who do not have epilepsy. For more information, see non-epileptic seizure. About 4% of people will have an unprovoked seizure by the age of 80 and the chance of experiencing a second seizure is between 30% and 50%.[2][3] Treatment may reduce the chance of a second one by as much as half.[3] Most single episode seizures are managed by primary care physicians (emergency or general practitioners), whereas investigation and management of ongoing epilepsy is usually done by neurologists. Difficult-to-manage epilepsy may require consultation with an epileptologist, a neurologist with an interest in epilepsy. The signs and symptoms of seizures vary depending on the type.[5] Seizures may cause involuntary changes in body movement or function, sensation, awareness, or behavior. Seizures are often associated with a sudden and involuntary contraction of a group of muscles and loss of consciousness. However, a seizure can also be as subtle as a fleeting numbness of a part of the body, a brief or long term loss of memory, visual changes, sensing/discharging of an unpleasant odor, a strange epigastric sensation, or a sensation of fear and total state of confusion. A seizure can last from a few seconds to status epilepticus, a continuous group of seizures that is often life-threatening without immediate intervention. Therefore seizures are typically classified as motor, sensory, autonomic, emotional or cognitive. After the active portion of a seizure, there is typically a period referred to as postictal before a normal level of consciousnessreturns.[5] In some cases, the full onset of a seizure event is preceded by some of the sensations described above, called vertiginous epilepsy. These sensations can serve as a warning to that a generalized tonicclonic seizure is about to occur. These warning sensations are cumulatively called an aura and are due to a focal seizure.[5] Some patients are able to tell when a seizure is about to happen. Some symptoms experienced by the person before a seizure may include dizziness, lightheadedness, tightening of the chest, and some experience things in slow-motion just prior to the seizure. Symptoms experienced by a person during a seizure depend on where in the brain the disturbance in electrical activity occurs. Partial and frontal seizures and focal epileptic discharges tend to happen more during sleep than during wakefulness. In contrast, psychogenic nonepileptic seizures are rare between midnight and 6 a m. and never occur during sleep.[6] Generalized epilepsy but not focal epilepsy is higher in the morning probably reflecting a diurnal variation in cortical excitability.[7] A person having a tonic clonic seizure may cry out, lose consciousness and fall to the ground, and convulse, often violently. A person having a complex partial seizure may appear confused or dazed and will not be able to respond to questions or direction. Some people have seizures that are not noticeable to others. Sometimes, the only clue that a person is having an absence seizure is rapid blinking, extreme confusion for a few seconds or sometimes into hours.[citation needed]

Unprovoked seizures are often associated with epilepsy and related seizure disorders. Causes of provoked seizures include: Dehydration sleep deprivation cavernoma or cavernous malformation is a treatable medical condition that can cause seizures, headaches, and brain hemorrhages. An MRI can quickly confirm or reject this as a cause. arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a treatable medical condition that can cause seizures, headaches, and brain hemorrhages. An MRI can quickly confirm or reject this as a cause. head injury may cause non-epileptic post-traumatic seizures or post-traumatic epilepsy, in which the seizures chronically recur. intoxication with drugs, for example aminophylline or local anaesthetics normal doses of certain drugs that lower the seizure threshold, such as tricyclic antidepressants infection, such as encephalitis or meningitis fever leading to febrile convulsions (but see above) metabolic disturbances, such as hypoglycaemia, hyponatremia or hypoxia withdrawal from drugs (anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and sedatives such as alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines,) space-occupying lesions in the brain (abscesses, tumors) seizures during (or shortly after) pregnancy can be a sign of eclampsia. seizures in a person with hydrocephalus may indicate severe shunt failure. binaural beat brainwave entrainment may trigger seizures in both epileptics and nonepileptics[dubious discuss] haemorrhagic stroke can occasionally present with seizures, embolic strokes generally do not (though epilepsy is a common later complication); cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, a rare type of stroke, is more likely to be accompanied by seizures than other types of stroke multiple sclerosis sufferers may rarely experience seizures parasitic infection such as cerebral malaria