Petit mal seizure is a kind of seizure that most often occurs in children. It usually involves a short and sudden lapse of conscious activity. The duration of the seizure is usually few seconds or minutes but it’s possible that there might be hundreds of similar attack in a day. Facial muscles, jaws or hands are often gets contracted and person may feel small jerks in his body. A person can immediately continue with his normal working after the attack as sometimes it is very negligible. Children between the age group of 6 and 12 are usually its victim.
Typical Petit Mal Seizure Symptoms
In a typical petit mal seizure usually there is a sudden absence of consciousness and there could be no movement at all. The only thing that a person does sometimes is constant staring. In some cases it has also been found that often children have lip smacking, continuous movement of eyelids, mouth movements like chewing or excessive hand and leg movements. Children often continue with the work they were engaged in as after petit mal seizure attack there does not remain any confusion and also memory of the incident fades away.
Most Common Causes For Petit Mal Seizure
During the normal sleeping and waking up cycle our various cells produce different electrical signals. Sometimes these electrical signals often get discharged in an abnormally synchronized manner and create convulsions or seizures. It might happen that it could remain stuck in one part of the brain or might spread to your entire brain rapidly. Few most common causes that give rise to petit mal seizure could be:-
- Any metabolic disturbance in the body
- Preceding brain trauma
- Disorder in the blood vessels
- Use of explicit drugs
- Infection in the brain due to some post injury
- Brain tumor
- Some history of stroke
- Any congenital malformation in the brain
Seek Medical Assistance If Petit Mal Seizure Attack Remains Over A Minute
In petit mal seizure attack usually there is hardly an emergency but especially when it strikes in children sometimes it becomes very necessary to take necessary precautions and seek medical advice. Usually the following are few things upon which it becomes necessary to call a doctor or provide a first aid.
- When the duration of the seizure becomes more than 2 or 3 minutes
- When the person is not able to recover in a timely duration
- There is a repeated seizure attack immediately after the first one
These tendencies if noticed in a person it is requested to seek medical help and immediately call 911 for assistance.
Insist On A Regular And Right Medication For Petit Mal Seizure
There are many medications available for the treatment of petit mal seizure. But it is very essential to find the right medication and dosage. It is very essential to take the medicines on a usual schedule. Few standard medicines that are available in market are Depakene and Zarontine; these medicines though are not considered for pregnant women as they are related with birth defects. Many children often eliminate their seizure disorder as they age but it’s always advised to take precautionary measures and never to take it lightly.