Frontal lobe epilepsy

Frontal lobe epilepsy is a type of focal epilepsy that originates in the frontal lobe of the brain.
It usually involves a cluster of short seizures with a sudden onset and termination.

What are focal seizures?[edit | edit source]

Focal seizures originate in just one part of the brain. About 60 percent of people with epilepsy have focal seizures.
These seizures are frequently described by the area of the brain in which they originate.

Many people are diagnosed with focal frontal lobe or medial temporal lobe seizures.
Frontal lobe controls movement and involves seizures that can cause muscle weakness or abnormal, uncontrolled movement such as twisting, waving the arms or legs, eye deviation to one side, or grimacing, and are usually associates with some loss of awareness.

These seizures usually occur when the person is asleep but also may occur while awake.

In some focal seizures, the person remains conscious but may experience motor, sensory, or psychic feelings (for example, intense dejà vu or memories) or sensations that can take many forms.
The person may experience sudden and unexplainable feelings of joy, anger, sadness, or nausea.
He or she also may hear, smell, taste, see, or feel things that are not real and may have movements of just one part of the body, for example, just one hand.
In other focal seizures, the person has a change in consciousness, which can produce a dreamlike experience.
The person may display strange, repetitious behaviors such as blinks, twitches, mouth movements (often like chewing or swallowing, or even walking in a circle).
These repetitious movements are called automatisms.
More complicated actions, which may seem purposeful, can also occur involuntarily. Individuals may also continue activities they started before the seizure began, such as washing dishes in a repetitive, unproductive fashion. These seizures usually last just a minute or two.

Some people with focal seizures may experience auras – unusual sensations that warn of an impending seizure.
Auras are usually focal seizures without interruption of awareness ( e.g., dejà vu, or an unusual abdominal sensation) but some people experience a true warning before an actual seizure.
An individual’s symptoms, and the progression of those symptoms, tend to be similar every time.
Other people with epilepsy report experiencing a prodrome, a feeling that a seizure is imminent lasting hours or days.

The symptoms of focal seizures can easily be confused with other disorders.
The strange behavior and sensations caused by focal seizures also can be mistaken for symptoms of narcolepsy, fainting, or even mental illness.
Several tests and careful monitoring may be needed to make the distinction between epilepsy and these other disorders.

An electroencephalogram, or EEG,
A magnetoencephalogram (MEG) detects the magnetic signals generated by neurons to help detect surface abnormalities in brain activity.
CT scan (computed tomography)
PET scan (positron emission tomography) and
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

Other measures include:

Medications The most common approach to treating the epilepsies is to prescribe antiseizure drugs.

More than 20 different antiseizure medications are available today, all with different benefits and side effects.

Most seizures can be controlled with one drug (called monotherapy).

Seizure medications include:

Generic	Brand Name (United States)
Carbamazepine	Carbatrol, Tegretol
Clobazam	Frisium, Onfi
Clonazepam	Klonopin
Diazepam	Diastat, Diazepam, Valium
Divalproex Sodium	Depakote, Depakote ER
Eslicarbazepine Acetate	Aptiom
Ezogabine	Potiga
Felbamate	Felbatol
Gabapentin	Neurontin
Lacosimide	Vimpat
Lamotrigine	Lamictal
Levetiracetam	Keppra, Keppra XR
Lorazepam	Ativan
Oxcarbazepine	Oxtellar, Oxtellar XR, Trileptal
Perampanel	Fycompa
Phenobarbital
Phenytoin	Dilantin, Phenytek
Pregabalin	Lyrica
Primidone	Mysoline
Rufinamide	Banzel
Tiagabine Hydrochloride	Gabitril
Topiramate	Topamax, Topamax XR
Valproic Acid	Depakene
Vigabatrin	Sabril

Frontal lobe epilepsy Resources
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