What do you do if you see someone having a seizure?
Tonic-Clonic seizures
The person goes stiff, loses consciousness and then falls to the ground. This is followed by jerking movements. After a minute or two the jerking movements should stop and consciousness may slowly return.
To help them…
- remove harmful objects from nearby to protect them from hitting themselves and causing injury
- Cushion their head
- If you don’t know the person and know they have epilepsy look for an epilepsy identity card or identity jewellery
- Aid breathing by gently placing them in the recovery position once the seizure has finished (see pictures)
- Stay with the person until recovery is complete
- Be calmly reassuring
Do Not…
- Restrain the person.
- Put anything in the person’s mouth
- Try to move them unless they are in danger
- Give them anything to eat or drink until they are fully recovered
- Attempt to bring them round…you can’t snap someone out of a seizure !
Only call for an ambulance if…
- You know it is the person’s first seizure.
- The seizure continues for more than five minutes.
- One tonic-clonic seizure follows another without the person regaining consciousness between seizures.
- The person is injured during the seizure.
- You believe the person needs urgent medical attention.
Focal (partial) seizures
Sometimes the person may not be aware of their surroundings or what they are doing. They may pluck at their clothes or fingers, smack their lips, swallow repeatedly, and/ or wander around.
To help them…
- Guide the person from danger
- Stay with the person until recovery is complete
- Be calmly reassuring
- Explain anything that they may have missed
Do Not…
- Restrain the person
- Act in a way that could frighten them, such as making abrupt movements or shouting at them
- Assume the person is aware of what is happening, or what has happened
- Give the person anything to eat or drink until they are fully recovered
- Attempt to bring them round
Only call for an ambulance if…
- You know it is the person’s first seizure
- The seizure continues for more than five minutes
- The person is injured during the seizure
- You believe the person needs urgent medical attention
There are very few good Epilepsy First Aid videos about – if any at all. I want to get round to making one however it needs a lot of planning and until then this is the best one in my opinion.