Just like any other disease, epilepsy also has different types of syndromes and there is a particular set of symptom which characterizes each syndrome of epilepsy. The types or syndromes of epilepsy are numerous, amounting to hundreds and it has been observed that quite a few of these epilepsy types are rare or very rare. Usually the type of epilepsy is named or classified according to the portion of the brain where the epilepsy originates or after the symptoms.
Some types of epilepsy originate in infancy, some in childhood, some start at old age and others start to raise their heads in adulthood.
Common types of epilepsy
The commonest types of epilepsy are parietal lobe epilepsy, occipital lobe epilepsy, frontal lobe epilepsy, temporal lobe epilepsy and absence epilepsy.
Absence epilepsy
This is characterized by absence seizures which will occur repeatedly. Usually it has a hereditary base because it runs in families. It is in adolescence and sometimes even in childhood that the seizures begin. However the good thing with absence epilepsy is that when the seizures start taking place in childhood, by the time the child reaches puberty, the seizures stop occurring.
Parietal lobe epilepsy
It is between the temporal lobe and the frontal lobe that the parietal lobe is located. A special characteristic of parietal lobe is that the seizures associated with it get distributed to other parts of the brain. But this is a characteristic that is shared by some other types of epilepsy as well.
Occipital lobe epilepsy
It is at the rear end of the skull that the occipital lobe is situated. Temporal lobe epilepsies and frontal lobe epilepsies are pretty similar to occipital lobe epilepsy in many ways and different from it in the sense that the seizures originate in the eye region or in the occipital lobe and the symptoms are all related to the eye – like rapid blinking of the eyes, visual hallucinations etc.
Frontal lobe epilepsy
In this type of epilepsy, the seizures start in clusters which are short and which stop as suddenly as they start. The frontal lobes are the largest in size among the five lobes.