What do I do if someone is having a seizure?

This article details what you should do if you see someone having a seizure. The most important thing to do is to stay calm.

What should you do if someone appears to be having a seizure?

“The main thing is to stay calm yourself,” said Dr. Richard Kanoff, a child neurologist for Essentia Health who specializes in treating epilepsy.

A person having a complex partial seizure may be confused and uncertain who you are even if you are a family member or friend.

“The important thing is to approach them slowly, to talk softly, be calm,” Kanoff said. “All you’re trying to do is guide them to a safe place. See if you can get them to sit down or lie down in a place where things are relatively out of the way.”

A person having a grand mal seizure may stiffen and shake all over, Kanoff said.

“Again, the recommendation is to stay calm, to approach that person and move things out of their way the best you can so they don’t bang against things,” he said.

If you can, Kanoff said, help the patient to lie on his or her side. That way, if the patient begins vomiting the substance will come out the mouth and not back into the lung.

There are a couple of things you shouldn’t do.

“We don’t restrain anybody, because those muscles are going to twitch anyway,” Kanoff said. “If you provide a restraint, you might facilitate another injury like a broken bone.”

And don’t put anything in the patient’s mouth, not even your finger.

The old thinking that you need to prevent the patient from “swallowing his tongue” has long been discounted, said Mary Giese, regional outreach coordinator for the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota.

Putting something in the patient’s mouth has more potential to block the airway than to open it, Kanoff said.

“People do bite their tongues, but it’s rare that anybody needs stitches in their tongues as a result of that,” he said. “It’s much better to have them have the bruise from the bite on the tongue than have them lose their airway because you pushed something in there.”

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What are types of seizures? How do you recognize seizures?

This article offers an overview of the different types of epileptic seizures and how to recognize them. JR

Epilepsy, also commonly known as a seizure disorder, is a medical condition that affects mental and physical functions.

Epilepsy causes clusters of nerves in the brain to work abnormally, which causes recurrent seizures. A person is often diagnosed with epilepsy if he or he has at least two unprovoked seizures.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2.2 million Americans have epilepsy. Epilepsy can become more common as people age. However, lifetime risk of developing epilepsy is 4 percent. The goal of treatment is to render patients seizure-free with antiepileptic medications.

At times, patients can still experience seizures despite being on medications. Epilepsy surgery and electronic stimulation (via vagal nerve stimulator) are safe alternatives for intractable epilepsy.

There are many different causes of epilepsy. Epilepsy can be genetic, caused by a prior head trauma, and can be seen in individuals with history of meningitis, encephalitis, brain tumor or stroke.

Types of epileptic seizures

General seizure: The entire brain is involved in this type of seizure. The person may make a noise and stiffen for several seconds with rhythmic movements of the arms and legs. The eyes usually remain open during the seizure. After the seizure is over, the person may act confused. This seizure also is known as a grand mal seizure.

Partial seizure: Only part of the brain is involved in this type of seizure, meaning only part of the body is affected. For example, if the part of the brain that controls hand movement is affected, the person’s hand may jerk. Symptoms of partial seizures can include small repetitive movements. After having a partial seizure, the person may act confused.

Absence seizure: Absence seizures are most common in children. Those affected by this type of seizure often stare blankly and can blink repetitively. These seizures only last a few moments, and some people may have many of these in one day.

When diagnosing epilepsy, physicians often use an electroencephalogram, or EEG. This test records the electrical activity in the brain. People with epilepsy will often have changes in brain wave patterns, even when not having a seizure. Diagnosis is aided by having a CT, MRI or PET scan. The scans can find abnormalities in the brain that might be causing seizures.

Anyone experiencing a seizure for the first time should see a doctor immediately.

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