Absence seizures

What happens during an absence seizure?

Absence seizures can affect you in different ways, depending on the type of seizure that you have. The two main types of absence seizure are typical absence seizures and atypical absence seizures.

“For me they feel like when you accidentally press the ‘skip forward’ button on a TV show. It might have only been 10 seconds you miss but it’s very disorientating and takes you a minute to realise what’s happened and catch up”

Typical absence seizures

If you are having a typical absence seizure, you may suddenly stop what you are doing for a few seconds, but will not fall. You might appear to be daydreaming or ‘switching off’ or looking ‘blank’. People around you might not notice you are having a seizure.

Your eyelids might flutter and you might have slight movements of your body or limbs. For example, moving your mouth or fumbling. In longer absence seizures, you might have some short, repetitive movements (called ‘stereotypies’).

You won’t know what is happening around you, and you can’t be brought out of it.

Some people have occasional absence seizures, some can have up to hundreds of absences a day. They can occur in clusters, one after another. They may be worse when you are waking up or drifting off to sleep. You can find out more about seizures that happen around sleep on our sleep seizures page.

Who gets typical absence seizures?

Typical absence seizures almost always start in childhood or early adulthood. They can be a feature of different childhood epilepsy syndromes, though not always. Some syndromes which can feature typical absence seizures include:

• Childhood absence epilepsy (CAE)
• Juvenile absence epilepsy (JAE)
• Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME)

You can find out more about typical absence seizures and how they affect children on these pages.

Atypical absence seizures

Atypical absence seizures are similar to typical absence seizures, but they are not the same. They last longer, and they start and end more slowly.

You might be able to move around, but your muscles might go limp or ‘floppy’, making you appear clumsy. You may be able to respond to someone during an atypical absence seizure.

Who gets atypical absence seizures?

Atypical absences usually affect children who have severe epilepsy or epilepsy syndromes. Many children who have atypical absence seizures also have severe learning difficulties or other conditions that affect the brain. They usually also have other types of seizures too. Absence seizures generally start in children over 2 years old, and can continue into adulthood.

Examples of epilepsy syndromes with atypical absence seizures include:

• Lennox-Gastaut syndrome
• Dravet syndrome

How long do absence seizures last?

For most people, a single typical absence seizure usually lasts around 10 seconds or less. But they can be longer or shorter than this- ranging from 2 to about 30 seconds.

Atypical absence seizures tend to last a bit longer than typical absence seizures. For most people they will last around 20 seconds or less. But they can be as short as 2 seconds, or as long as 100 seconds (about 1.5 minutes).

For some people absence seizures can happen several times a day, or in clusters. This can increase the amount of time that they affect you.

Absence status epilepticus

A single absence seizure that lasts for more than 10 minutes is called absence status epilepticus. Or, non-convulsive status epilepticus. This can be a medical emergency. Find out what to do if this happens below.

What happens after an absence seizure?

After an absence seizure, you may be able to go straight back to what you were doing before your seizure. You may not remember what has happened during the absence seizure. You may also feel confused or tired afterwards.

“I always say it’s like a light switch being turned off when they start and then back on when I come round to some form of normality. I never know what’s happened in between.”

What can I do if I or my child has absence seizures?

If this is your first absence seizure

You may not need immediate medical help when you have a first absence seizure. But you should make an appointment to see a GP who can decide if any tests or a referral to a specialist are needed. We have more information on our diagnosis page.

Help for you

• Keeping a seizure diary can help understand absence seizures and triggers. You can download our free seizure diary
• Take your epilepsy medicine as prescribed and do not miss any doses
• Carry a medical ID that lets people know you have epilepsy
• Find out more on our pages about safety advice and living with epilepsy
• Talk to us via our online live chat service or call our support line on 0808 8005050. We can provide a listening ear, advice, and more information about the free services that we offer

“I’d always advise being open with people about having them. So if you do find yourself in a conversation where you’ve missed a bit, you can let them know and they can take it slow and recap.”

Help for your child

Absence seizures most commonly start in childhood. If your child has absence seizures you can:

• Explore our Just for Kids page. It has lots of resources to help your child understand their epilepsy
• Visit our information page for parents of a child with epilepsy. We also have information about caring for someone with a learning disability
• Download or order our free ‘Your Child and Epilepsy’ booklet
• Find out what support your child is entitled to at school. Absence seizures can often be mistaken for daydreaming in class and children may start struggling more at school. You can tell your child’s school about our free epilepsy training for teachers

Absence seizure first aid: How to help someone

This short video at the top of the page explains what to do if someone has an absence seizure.

• Gently guide the person away from any danger. Especially if they are having repeated absence seizures
• Stay with them until they are fully recovered
• Be calm and reassuring
• Explain anything they may have missed. For example, if they have missed part of the conversation

There is no need to hold the person down or move them unless they are in danger. Avoid trying to bring them round or giving them anything to eat or drink until they are fully recovered.

As absence seizures are very short, people can usually recover relatively quickly and are able to carry on with what they were doing. They usually only need medical help or to go to A&E if they have injured themselves.

This page is printable and can be downloaded. We also have accessibility tools available at the top of the page.

Thank you to our expert medical reviewer, and our health information volunteers, for their help contributing to and reviewing this content.

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