During grande mal seizures so much of the brain is firing that things just don't register, so if tehre is physical pain -- for instance at spasming muscles -- it doesn't process in the brain so isn't felt. Now, there can be soreness and strong unease afterward but not when the brain is firing so much. That has been repeatedly documented in humans,and having once had grande mal convulsions the day after a surgery as part of an allergic reaction which threw off my heart rhythm for a short while I can tell you that things just didn't register during. I have a recollection of someone telling me the coolness was just from the gel to monitor my heart when I was between seizures but otherwise that day for the most part never registered. (Luckily, it didn't do any lasting damage, either; I just have to have special precautions taken with general anesthesia and in the days following its use.) I recall a lecture by a neurologist who was asked about "using more of the brain". He looked startled and then succinctly replied that no, a person would not want to use more of the brain at once because that is what we call a seizure and rather than be more effective from using the brain that way the person would not be able to process information of any type. Never-the-less -- Twilight Zone plots with "more brain used" aside -- a major seizure is a frightening thing to witness and something which can leave a person who is not prepared feeling helpless and panicked, and leave a prepared person feeling that way if the approaches which had worked in the past then fail to work. The aftermath can be hard on the one who has gone through it if it happens in the wrong setting, and the damage which can sometimes result certainly is a very real concern. No matter what the cause it is a serious crisis. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 5670]