How do petit mal seizures differ from grand mal seizures?

Answer 1

Grand mal epilepsy is a major seizure and petit mal epilepsy is a minor seizure. A grand mal epilepsy seizure is a seizure that causes a person to have a loss of consciousness, loss of muscle coordination and can cause loss of bowel and bladder. Petit mal epilepsy seizures may cause uncontrollable twitching or movement in a smaller part of the body. Both petit mal epilepsy and grand mal epilepsy seizures are caused by too much activity in the brain.

Answer 2

Yes, you most certainly can have both. In some cases an adolescent will outgrow the petit mal seizures. In other cases, the petit mal will be replaced by grand mal seizures. There are also patients that will have both. In these cases what happens is the grand mal is preceded by a series of petit mal seizures. Very often what happens is the patient wakes up and for whatever reason (sleep deprivation, alcohol withdrawl, etc) begins to have petit mal after petit mal and then a grand mal seizure.

Answer 3

A petit mal seizure may be so slight that a person would not even know someone else is having one. It may last a short period of time. The person may seem to be dazed or day dreaming and may be talking to themselves. A grand mal seizure may last longer. It will be very evident that someone is having a seizure. The person may fall and be moving around and be sick. It will take them longer to come out of the seizure and come back to normal. They may still be very unwell and tired afterwards. So a petit mal is a very mild seizure and a grand mal is much more serious.