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 to do if a child has a seizure

This article details what action to take if your child has a seizure.

Seeing a child suffer a seizure can terrify a parent. As part of Epilepsy Awareness Month in November, an expert offered some advice on how to deal with such a situation.

All first seizures in children require a medical evaluation, said Dr. Adam Hartman, a pediatric neurologist and epilepsy expert at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.

"If this is the first time your child is having a seizure, seek emergency medical care," he said in a Johns Hopkins news release.

Children with known epilepsy who have a breakthrough seizure -- one that occurs despite treatment -- do not typically require urgent medical attention unless:

• The seizure lasts more than five minutes.
• The seizure looks different from previous seizures.
• Several seizures occur in a cluster.
• The child remains unconscious for a few minutes following the seizure.
• The child struggles for air and is not getting enough oxygen, signaled by bluish lips or complexion.

The symptoms listed above may mean that the child is going into status epilepticus, a persistent, severe and life-threatening seizure that always requires emergency treatment, Hartman said.

During a seizure, don't put anything in the child's mouth and don't try to hold the child down. Clear the surrounding area and have the child lie on one side, rather than flat on their back, Hartman said. You can put a small pillow under the child's head.

After the seizure ends, allow the child to rest and check for injuries. Do not give the child anything to eat or drink until fully alert. Note the length of the seizure and the date and time it occurred.

Keep a seizure diary and inform the child's neurologist or primary-care pediatrician about all seizures. Pay attention to what might have triggered the seizure. Sleep deprivation, high fever, illness, and emotional or physical stress increase seizure risk among children with epilepsy.

"Children respond individually to stressors, so it's important to notice the factors that precipitate a seizure in your child and avoid them when and if possible," Hartman said.

Epilepsy, an umbrella term that encompasses more than 40 seizure disorders, affects nearly 3 million people in the United States. More than 320,000 of them are children under 15, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. About 45,000 children in the United States develop epilepsy each year.

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The Epilepsy Foundation has more about epilepsy.

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What should you do if someone has a seizure?

This article details what one can do if one sees someone having a seizure. Remember to call EMS if you have concerns.!

THIS IS A GENERAL INFORMATION article and is not meant to substitute for seeing your dcotor. Always check with your neurologist about specifics for you or your child.  JR

If a friend, family member or co-worker has epilepsy, you should know what to do if he or she has a seizure.

Once a seizure begins, nothing can be done to make it end more quickly. But you can take steps to prevent seizure victims from hurting themselves:

• Move furniture and sharp objects away from the victim.
• Should the victim vomit, turn his or her head to the side so he or she does not choke.
• If the victim is unconscious, make sure nothing is obstructing the nose or mouth.

After a seizure ends, most people sleep deeply. Do not try to prevent this deep sleep. Once the victim awakens, he or she may be disoriented for a while.

Be sure to stay with the victim until he or she recovers fully, or until emergency medical help arrives. Also, keep an eye on the victim’s breathing rate and pulse.

Do not do the following things for a seizure victim. You will risk hurting the seizure victim and yourself:

• Do not restrain someone having a seizure.
• Do not put a spoon, tongue depressor or anything else in his or her mouth, especially not your fingers. It is a myth that seizure victims can swallow their tongues.
• Do not move the victim unless he or she is in immediate danger or near a hazard.
• Do not perform artificial respiration during a seizure, even if the victim is turning blue. Most seizures are over long before brain damage from lack of oxygen begins. However, if a seizure lasts longer than two minutes, call for emergency medical help.
• Do not give the victim food, drink or medication by mouth until the seizure has stopped and he or she is completely awake and alert.

Call immediately for emergency medical help for someone who:

• has seizures lasting longer than two minutes or has more than one seizure per hour
• does not wake up between two seizures
• is injured, ill or intoxicated
• has a seizure for the first time
• is pregnant or has diabetes or high blood pressure
• has a seizure in water

After other seizures, call the seizure victim’s healthcare provider.

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