Something strange settles over you — a smell only you notice, a rush of déjà vu, a flicker of light at the edge of your vision. Then it passes, or it lingers, and a seizure follows close behind.

For many people with epilepsy, this brief, private warning has a name: an aura. If you’ve never experienced one, it can be hard to describe what an aura actually feels like before a seizure. Even if you’ve had many, it can feel unsettling.

Learning to recognize your aura can potentially help you get a little control over seizures. Unfortunately, there’s still no way to stop an aura once it starts, but understanding them better may help. Here’s what a seizure aura is, what it feels like for people who get them, and what to do when you have one.

🗳️ If you experience auras with seizures, which symptoms do you get?

Visual changes such as hallucinations or flickering

Strange sounds or tastes

Odd emotions and sensations such as déjà vu

More than one of these types of symptoms

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What Causes Seizure Auras?

Researchers still don’t fully understand why auras show up the way they do for each person.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) testing shows abnormal brain wave patterns in more than two-thirds of people who have auras, and about a third also show related changes on brain imaging.

Auras themselves tend to be short. In one study, they lasted anywhere from two seconds to seven minutes, with most lasting only about a minute.

An aura rarely shows up completely alone, either. Around 20 percent of people with epilepsy experience earlier warning signs, sometimes called prodromes. Prodromes can show up hours or even days before a seizure, long before the aura itself sets in. The most commonly reported prodrome symptoms include:

• Confusion
• Irritability, anxiety, or mood changes (including positive ones)
• Nausea
• Tremors
• Headache
• Numbness

Seizure triggers like poor sleep, high stress, illness, or missed medication doses don’t cause auras directly. Still, they’re commonly reported triggers that can make a seizure — and the aura that sometimes comes with it — more likely to happen.

What Does a Seizure Aura Feel Like?

Ask five different people with epilepsy to describe their aura, and you’re likely to get five different answers. People may describe aspects of an aura as:

• Visual symptoms — Including flickering or flashing lights, hallucinations, or vision loss
• Smells — Often described as odd or offensive
• Physical sensations — Such as a “rising” feeling in the stomach, a sense that a limb is larger or smaller, or a wave going through the head, as well as numbness or tingling
• Tastes — Including bitter or acidic tastes
• Intense emotions — These may be joyous, sad, angry, or fearful
• Familiarity — Either déjà vu (a feeling that you’ve been somewhere before) or jamais vu (a feeling of unfamiliarity with a person, object, or place you know well)
• Muscle stiffening or twitching — Involuntary tightening or jerking of muscles in one part of the body, such as an arm, leg, or face

MyEpilepsyTeam members describe their auras in vivid detail. “Sometimes, I smell cardboard before I have a grand mal seizure,” one member shared. “I don’t have enough time to tell someone. I have a seizure within two seconds.”

“Sometimes, I smell cardboard before I have a grand mal seizure. I don’t have enough time to tell someone. I have a seizure within two seconds.”

— A MyEpilepsyTeam member

A second member shared that their hands, feet, and lower limbs “will go numb and tingle.” Another described “a big red sign flashing in my brain” warning them a seizure was coming.

Often, aura symptoms simply defy description. “I find it so difficult to put into words,” one member said.

Types of Seizure Auras

Doctors sort auras into categories based on where the unusual activity starts in the brain and the symptoms they cause.

Visual Auras

A visual aura can involve seeing bright lights or flashes, or objects appearing bigger or smaller than they actually are.

Visual auras can happen when seizure activity affects brain areas involved in vision, including areas toward the back of the brain (occipital lobes) and the sides (temporal lobes).

“I was seeing things out of the corner of my eyes,” one MyEpilepsyTeam member said. “But when I looked over, there was nothing there. One time, I thought that I saw my neighbor on his deck — but nope, not there.”

Auditory Auras

An auditory aura means hearing unexpected sounds or noises that aren’t really there. These auras tend to point to activity in the brain area that processes sound.

Members describe hearing music and other sounds:

• “Sometimes ringing”
• “A whoosh sound”
• “A loud siren or alarm goes off in my head”
• Sounds that are “muffled and far off”
• “A sound like an electric guitar playing in my head”

Déjà Vu Auras

Déjà vu, the eerie sense that a new experience is one you’ve already lived through, is commonly described as part of some people’s auras. Some people also mention the opposite odd sensation, jamais vu. This happens when a familiar place or situation suddenly feels new.

“It’s a strong, out-of-body feeling that I’ve been here, done this before. It’s often followed by a feeling of foreboding and anxiety.”

— A MyEpilepsyTeam member

Fear Auras

Some auras bring on a sudden, intense emotion with no clear cause. People often describe the feeling as fear, though a few describe a rush of unexpected joy instead. One member said they “got scared for no reason.” Another noted “weird smells and high anxiety.”

Can You Stop a Seizure Aura?

In short, no — there’s currently no proven way to stop an aura once it begins.

Researchers are actively studying whether there may be ways to interrupt an aura before it spreads into a larger seizure, but this kind of intervention is still being tested in clinical trials. There’s not yet any treatment available for auras in epilepsy.

That doesn’t mean an aura is only bad news, though. Even if you can’t stop it, an aura can warn you and give you precious seconds to protect yourself before anything else happens.

“When I feel the auras, I find a safe place. If I’m out, go down to the floor.”

— A MyEpilepsyTeam member

What Should You Do If You Have a Seizure Aura?

If you get an aura, use those seconds to get somewhere safe.

That might mean stopping an activity that could be risky, sitting down if you feel unsteady, or moving away from fire, water, or other hazards. Other helpful techniques include deep breathing or maintaining focus on a safe task.

“When I feel the auras, I find a safe place,” one MyEpilepsyTeam member said. “If I’m out, go down to the floor.” Another member described turning an aura into a personal warning system, after which they take the following steps:

1. Stop what you’re doing immediately.
2. Place your phone near you.
3. Lie down in the middle of the bed so you won’t fall off.

A seizure first aid action plan can help you map out steps like these ahead of time, so you’re not scrambling to remember them in the middle of an aura.

It’s also worth bringing up your auras when you ask your doctor about focal seizures, since the details, like what you feel and how long it lasts, can help guide your treatment.

Tracking your auras over time, and talking through ways of managing focal seizures with your care team, can make the unpredictable feel a little more manageable.