petit mal seizures may lasts for hours??

Answer 1

No, petit mal seizures last only seconds or minutes. They are most frequent in children or those under 20 years of age. These seizures involve only a brief, sudden lapse of conscious activity and the person usually has no memory of that the seizure has occurred.

If you'd like more info on them, I located some sites for you:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/petit-mal-seizure/DS00216
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000696.htm
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00216.html