A seizure attack can happen anywhere at any time. It is Important to know what to do during the attack and what not to do during a seizure attack. But first you need to understand what a seizure is, in order to recognize it early and act as soon as it is recognized.
A Seizure is defined as unregulated electrical discharge that happens in the brain causing loss of awareness and abnormal movements. It usually last for a few seconds to few minutes. Most people do not have any warning signs before they have a seizure attack. It is common in people that have Epilepsy disorder. But remember, it can happen to anyone. In children the most common cause of seizures is very high temperature in the case of Fever.
How To Recognize Seizures?
A person with seizure attack usually has one or more of the following symptoms:
- Loss of consciousness
- Sudden fall
- Jerking movements
- Urinary incontinence and sometimes stool incontinence
- Tongue bite
- Being confused after the attack
What To Do During Fits Attack?
People should know that there’s a lot they can do while a person is having an attack of fits. The aim of the action is to minimize injuries that results from fits and prevent aspiration. There is nothing you can do to Stop an active seizure (Fits) attack at home, but you can minimize injury.
The first thing to do is protecting the fitting person’s head by putting a pillow or cushion with clothes if you’re outside the house or in public space under the so they cannot bang their head on the floor and injure it. Remove any dangerous material such as sharp objects around a fitting person, this is because there is a chance they might roll towards them and end up injured.
Do not put anything on the mouth of the person as that is proven to cause more damage than good. Many people think that putting wood on the mouth will prevent a fitting person form biting their tongue, that is not true because the person usually end up with more injures like tooth injury and lip injury. Also never put your finger inside the mouth, it can be chopped off by the powerful bites that a fitting person has.
When the seizure has subsided, put the person on the left side of the body to prevent the tongue from falling back and block the airway. This applies to every person who is unconscious. Make a documentation of what happened if possible. Try to accompany the person to the hospital so you can explain to the Doctors what happened since the person that had the seizure would not remember the events.
Call 112/911 if the fits attack last for more than 5 minutes. If the person is injured, Try to stop bleeding as soon as possible.
Some Causes Of Seizures
There are many cause of fits or seizures apart from Epilepsy. These include but not limited to:
- Alcohol abuse
- Brain infections : Brain Abscess or encephalitis and Meningitis
- Brain Tumors, stroke, Traumatic brain injury
- Low Blood sugar, electrolyte imbalance (Low/high levels of sodium, potassium, or calcium)
Take Home Message
Seizure attack can happen to anyone, remain calm and protect the person through the above mentioned techniques. If possible you can record the seizure and use it as witness to show the doctors so they can decide which type of seizure was it.