what to do when someone is having seizure
Imagine you lot're at the cinema when, suddenly, the guy in front of you in the concession line falls to the ground, shaking violently, popcorn spilling everywhere—he'south having a seizure. Or you lot're talking to your mom at the mall when her arm starts twitching and she stares blankly, unresponsive to your voice.
What would yous practise? What should you do?
Many of u.s.a. would probably freeze or freak out. Seizures can be absolutely terrifying. Some are totally disabling, while others aren't as obvious—in each case, it's what happens when electrical activity in the brain goes haywire. And chances are, y'all know someone who'southward had one. Well-nigh 3.4 million people in the U.Due south. live with epilepsy, according to the CDC. But you can have a seizure for a lot of other reasons, too. That's why Eat This, Non That! Health talked with medical experts to find out how to help someone having a seizure.
Nosotros know, this is a difficult one. Seizures can exist scary if you've never seen one. Watching someone you lot care most drop to the ground with convulsions is one of the hardest things you tin imagine. Only now is not the time to panic. "Take a deep breath, and don't become scared," says Patty Shafer RN, MN, senior director for wellness information with the Epilepsy Foundation. "Helping someone having a seizure is easy. Remember these 3 things: Stay. Safe. Side. Simply stay with them, keep them in a safe identify, and turn them on their side if they lose consciousness."
You lot might be surprised to hear that not everyone has convulsive seizures. "Seizures might look like a tonic-clonic seizure—yous shake, have very rigid body tone, plummet and lose your consciousness," says Dr. Lance Lee, a neurologist from Glendale, California. "But it tin also exist that you're staring and non responding. Some people simply selection on things, or twitch involuntarily, 1 arm or leg shaking uncontrollably." Some people even wander around during seizures. Then brand certain they don't walk into traffic, or fall down stairs—they won't exist enlightened of their surroundings.
When someone has a seizure, they may foam at the mouth, plough rigid, and pass out—their skin may fifty-fifty turn a piffling blue. Don't try to give them rescue breaths or CPR unless instructed to by emergency personnel. "Their center will be pounding similar crazy, and their blood force per unit area shoots upward, and then it's the contrary land of cardiac arrest," says Dr. Lee. "So CPR isn't needed because their heart is working." During a tonic-clonic seizure, it might await like the person has stopped breathing – this happens when their chest muscles tighten. Their breathing will slowly return to normal as their muscles relax.
One of the near important things yous can practice to assistance someone having a seizure is to turn them onto their side if they fall. "A person having a seizure could drool or vomit, and so choke if they're on their dorsum," says Dr. Elizabeth Felton MD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Convulsive seizures sometimes make a person shake violently. Y'all should never attempt to restrain someone having a seizure—this tin lead to injury. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, people don't fight on purpose during a seizure, but if yous restrain them when they're already confused, it could brand the person more than agitated and ambitious.
People sometimes worry that a person having a seizure will eat their natural language, so they try to force a stick into their oral cavity to bite down on. But that'southward dangerous. First of all, they're having uncontrolled convulsions, and so they could seize with teeth you severely. Or choke on whatever it is you're trying to give them. "Practice not put anything into their oral cavity—that includes your fingers!" says Dr. Felton.
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Making sure the person is in a safe environment during a seizure is critical—so if you see it happen, stay by their side. Encourage other onlookers to pace back and give the person some room. It tin can be confusing and embarrassing to wake up on the floor surrounded by the frightened faces of complete strangers. Do your best to explicate calmly what happened, who and where you are, and don't exit until they're ready for y'all to do then.
If someone has a seizure in the water, become them out and phone call 911. Drowning is a major chance factor. "You can drown when you take a seizure in water, whether yous're in a pond pool or a bathtub," says Shafer. "If y'all autumn facedown, information technology just takes a half-inch of water to cover your airways."
Try to time the seizure if yous have your lookout or iPhone. If information technology lasts five minutes or longer, it'due south time to phone call 911. "Seizures that last too long can crusade complications, and that'southward a medical emergency," says Shafer. She recommends you call 911 if it's the person'due south starting time seizure, or they're injured, pregnant, or they have more than 1 seizure in a row without regaining consciousness.
It's not safe to put anything into a person's oral fissure when they're having a seizure. If they're non fully awake and don't know what's going on, or having convulsions, they might choke. "Some people with epilepsy are prescribed rescue medication, which is used either during a prolonged seizure to help finish information technology or after a seizure to forestall more than 1 at a fourth dimension," says Dr. Felton. "If the rescue medication is a pill, it shouldn't be given during a seizure if they're out of it."
Information technology takes fourth dimension to recover from an electrical storm in your encephalon. The postictal stage is the technical name for the time immediately following a seizure when your brain and body begin to recover. It usually lasts between 5 and 30 minutes, but can be longer in the case of more severe seizures. "Some patients may be confused or seem 'out of it' for a while," says Dr. Felton. The person will be in an altered state during this phase, and may experience retention loss, sleepiness, headaches, nausea or oral communication harm. In rare cases, patients may experience postictal psychosis, characterized by hallucinations, paranoia and assailment. Telephone call 911 if you suspect postictal psychosis.
Seizures are a telltale symptom of epilepsy, but y'all can accept seizures without existence diagnosed with the condition. "Nosotros actually look at whether it was a provoked or unprovoked seizure to help determine whether a person has epilepsy," says Dr. Lee. "Unprovoked means the person is otherwise salubrious, no fever, no drugs, normal brain scan, and out of the blue they're having a seizure. Provoked seizures happen because of a reason. Y'all take meningitis, a float infection, you had a high fever, your electrolytes are out of control, your trunk is under a lot of stress. That can happen to anybody. I could take a fever of 105 and have a seizure. That doesn't hateful y'all have epilepsy. And every bit a doc, I wouldn't treat those seizures at all. I would treat the fever. There's a huge deviation."
Speaking of medications—if you have epilepsy, keeping up with your treatment regimen is essential. "We accept a lot of excellent medications to treat seizures," says Dr. Lee. "Sometimes people worry about the side effects, only there is and then much more benefit than harm in these medications. When you have a seizure, you could fall in the bathroom alone and hit your head. You could be driving and crash your car, and cease up killing yourself or someone else. That'southward the kind of consequences we're talking about." Medications are very constructive when taken properly—according to the Epilepsy Foundation, they work in seven out of 10 people, so don't terminate taking them without the advice of your physician. And to alive your happiest and healthiest life, don't miss these 70 Things You Should Never Practice For Your Wellness.
Source: https://www.eatthis.com/seizure-donts/
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