It could be either. Have you gone to see a neurologist and had an EEG done? My son does not do the lip smacking but that is indicative of petit-mal but the duration makes it sound like partial complex. My son has both absence (petit-mal) and partial complex seizures with secondary generalization. His seizures only last 3-15 seconds and present like absence seizures but the seizures he has at night while going to sleep and once he is asleep show on the EEG as partial complex.

I'm glad that you can recognize when you are getting ready to have a seizure!! I believe the aura is indicative of partial complex but i'm not completely sure. I'm glad that you are able to working on avoiding triggers. We don't know from day to day when my son is going to have a seizure because he doesn't realize that there is even anything wrong and the doctors nor we as his parents know what triggers his seizures. They recently increased his medication and we have not seen a seizure in my son since they have!!

Apparently i do the lip smacking and chewing air. Even during absences that i'm fully aware of what i'm doing i've never noticed doing it though. I have petit mal and my absences last between 2 seconds to 7 minutes.

Thanks. My Eegs show nothing. My seizures are spaced pretty far apart. Every couple of months. Usually start with an aura., so focal seizures that become generalized. Stop the focal, stops the generalized. Taking my meds and working on identifying and avoiding triggers.