First Aid for seizures
Tonic-Clonic seizures
The person loses consciousness, the body stiffens, then falls to the ground. This is followed by jerking movements. A blue tinge around the mouth is likely. This is due to irregular breathing. Loss of bladder and/or bowel control may occur. After a minute or two the jerking movements should stop and consciousness may slowly return.
Do...
- Protect the person from injury - (remove harmful objects from nearby)
- Cushion their head
- Look for an epilepsy identity card or identity jewellery
- Aid breathing by gently placing them in the recovery position once the seizure has finished
- Be calmly reassuring
- Stay with the person until recovery is complete
Don't...
- Restrain the person
- Put anything in the person’s mouth
- Try to move the person unless they are in danger
- Give the person anything to eat or drink until they are fully recovered
- Attempt to bring them round
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
Seizures involving altered consciousness or behaviour
Simple partial seizures
Twitching, numbness, sweating, dizziness or nausea; disturbances to hearing, vision, smell or taste; a strong sense of deja vu.
Complex partial seizures
Plucking at clothes, smacking lips, swallowing repeatedly or wandering around. The person is not aware of their surroundings or of what they are doing.
Atonic seizures
Sudden loss of muscle control causing the person to fall to the ground. Recovery is quick.
Myoclonic seizures
Brief forceful jerks which can affect the whole body or just part of it. The jerking could be severe enough to make the person fall.
Absence seizures
The person may appear to be daydreaming or switching off. They are momentarily unconscious and totally unaware of what is happening around them.
Do...
- Guide the person from danger
- Look for an epilepsy identity card or identity jewellery
- Stay with the person until recovery is complete
- Be calmly reassuring
- Explain anything that they may have missed
Don't...
- 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
Call for an ambulance if...
- You know it is the person's first seizure
- The seizure continues for more than five minutes
- One seizure follows another without the person regaining consciousness between them
- The person is injured during the seizure
- You believe the person needs urgent medical attention
Further information on seizures can be obtained from Epilepsy Action by using the Email Helpline or if you live in the UK, by phoning the Freephone Helpline on 0808 800 5050.
Epilepsy Helpline
- UK freephone 0808 800 5050
- International +44 113 210 8850
- Email: helpline@epilepsy.org.uk
- Txt msg: 07797 805 390 info
- Live online: Wednesdays 1200-1400 UK time
Twitter Updates
Epilepsy Action blog
Comments
I thought we have to turn the person to left (not right) am I wrong?!
I was always tought to turn them to the left as well.
Often the reason for turning an individual to left is also a matter of turning them 'away' from you. If the person goes into shock or has swallowed large amounts of water, they will vomit away from you instead of into your lap.
Any side is always better than back. Sometimes circumstances can prevail...... However, I believe there can be more oxygen exchange with some people when the right side of the lungs is upwards (that would be lying on the left side). Recall there are two lobes on lung on the left side along with the heart, and three lobes on the right side of the body. The initial basic goal is to keep oxygen / CO2 exchange going after the seizure and to reduce the risk of aspiration of vomit or secretions.
It is a common misconseption in first aid that there is a right or a wrong side to be rolled onto when put into the recovery position, either side is correct (there is also a recovery position for people on their front).
-Jay
Um i was wondering i know it says not to restrain them but is it alright to hold their head so they dont hit it on anything. My friend had a seizure while sitting in chair with her head leaned against the wall and we grabbed it & held it so she would stop hitting it on the wall. is that ok?
Hi - if someone is in danger of hitting their head, then it's a good thing to hold their head away from the source of danger. You can use your hands to cushion and protect their head. So it sounds as if what you did was OK. Main thing is to keep it as gentle as possible.
Mark @ Epilepsy Action
The reason why you have to roll the patient to the side, may be LEFT OR RIGHT, is to PREVENT ASPIRATION. Aspiration refers to the accidental sucking in of food particles or fluids into the lungs.
is it possible or normal for someone to be aggressive and violent during a complex partial seizure
It's not a common occurrence for someone to be aggressive or violent but it can happen. If you look on our website under temporal lobe seizures and frontal lobe seizures you will find that things like our emotions and social behaviour can be affected during a seizure. However, it's important to bear in mind that there are many reasons why people are aggressive or violent and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with epilepsy, just because someone has epilepsy. We have a section of our website called Learning, behaviour and epilepsy that may be of interest to you. While this section relates to children the causes of behaviour can also be the same for adults.
Epilepsy Action helpline team
my boyfriend recently had what we think is a seizure... he is 23 --- he's never had a seizure before. how common is it for an adult to obtain epilepsy? I would advise that everyone is told/taught the symptoms of epilepsy as it is quite a frightful thing to watch someone experiencing it. Doctors have not diagnosed him officially - - tests are still being done. Can anyone tell me how common it is to get fits from brain tumors?
um... If people with epilepsy live alone or have seizures with no one around them is there a risk of them dying at all? it disturbs me to think if i was not with him he would have had the seizure with no one around.
Everytime I've had a siezure I've always been turned to the right!!
Me and wife were having a debate, She said that when someone is having a seizure you should put a spoon or object in their mouth to keep them from swallowing there tongue. I informed her that this is not true. She stated that this is what they train EMT's to do. Can you shed some light on this subject ?
Pregnant ladies should (if possible) be turned to their left to prevent the pregnant uterus from putting pressure on a major vein ( the inferior vena cava) which runs behind it and to the right, so lowering the blood pressure.
You should definitely NOT place anything in someone's mouth while they are having a seizure. This will do nothing other than cause damage to the mouth and teeth. Particularly you should NEVER place your fingers in the mouth. It is not taught to EMT's. Ambulance crews would use a nasal airway if they needed to.
Regarding the recovery position question, the person who mentioned the heavily pregnant patient is correct. Otherwise, it's perfectly acceptable to place the patient on either side.
Hope that helps!
you said that we shouldn't put a spoon or our finger in the mouth of a person having a seizure. What should I do if the person starts to swallow his tongue?
sorry about my poor english, I'm brazillian
my boyfriend fainted 2 nights ago. he hadn't eaten much that day apparently, drank 3 beers (5'10", about 170, and 35 years old.). We had sex at the end of the night and then got up to go to the bathroom almost immediately (maybe 5 mins max later) after but fainted... I wonder why this happens. he said he had had strong Deja Vu the week prior (came up in unrelated conversation but just read the association to epilepsy here). He has massive jerks (not always small twiches but sudden jerks of limps and contraction of his muscles at times) while falling asleep and sometimes while sleeping. Are these signs of epilepsy? he was out of it when he woke up from fainting. he was 'out' for about a min... took about 4 seconds to say 'something is not right' and fainted and I quickly grabbed his face and slapped him lightly and within 30 seconds he was waking up. he had a bit of a head ache after... what is the issue? his doctor (phone conversation) said it was just vasovagal syncope and not to worry since he is in good health normally. And not to worry unless it happens again but i hadnt mentioned the jerking while falling asleep or sleeping and didnt know deja vu had anything to do with any sort of diagnosis. What is the deal? could an expert please comment? I'll get him a doc appt asap...but in the meantime, some info would help! thanks.
Say Carly, I wouldn't worry that much. Twitching is quite normal when falling asleep. Most people know the feeling: that falling sensation while lying in bed, or the loss of balance when you're sitting down somewhere and you're really tired. Three beers on an empty stomach and sex afterwards can be a bit demanding. I'd twitch and probably faint myself. ;-)
It's impossible to swallow your own tongue unless it's cut off. It's attached you your mouth, and it's gonna stay there because of the muscle. If you put a spoon or something in there, they could bite too hard on it and break teeth or their jaw. And they may bite your fingers if you don't get them out.
The person must be roll to the left to prevent the upward movement of the gastric juices (HCL) that may cause aspiration to the patient.
Hi Lauren,
Cant help you very much as far as obtaining epilepsy etc is concerned...my only eperience of epilepsy is that my sister was epileptic from the age of 18 months to 25 years. I just wanted to reply to you because you asked whether a person could die from epilepsy. Sadly the answer is yes, and I lost my sister in January to epilepsy. As it stands her death certificate states natural death by epilepsy, but the coroner cannot give u anymore information...as far as they're concerned they can't find any reason for her dying other than just not coming round from the seizure, but they cannot figure out why she didn't come round.
In regards to your worry, about leaving an epileptic alone, I just wanted to say that it really does not matter if someone is with them or not. My sister did unfortunately die alone. She had just gotten some independence, her own little bungalow close to my parents, a puppy to look after etc...she was living her lie to the fullest she could even though she was severely hindered by her condition. She could've lived at home, had someone watching over her at every minute, been treated like a baby all her life, constantly having omeone with her, and she could still have had a fit and not come round from it. The only difference is she would've died not knowing some of the pleasures of being independent...going out with friends or a drink, walking the dog, cooking her own tea.
Epilepsy brings lots of problems, and sufferers and their families can be severely limited but I think it's important they should all live lie to the fullest regardless. I also wanted to point out (because I know some of this will probably have you worrying) that death through epilepsy and fits is rare. Very rare in fact. Its little known when someone does die from it, and my sisters doctor said that he'd only known two epileptics in his care to die in a thirty year time span. It is something that is probably in the back of every sufferer's head (and their families) and is something they can mentally prepare themselves for if you see what I mean, but very rarely actually happens.
I hope this has answered some questions for you, maybe put things into perspective. You'e going to worry, it's natural, but it really doesn't matter whether they're with someone or not, if they are one of the unlucky people who succumb to this disability then theres nothing anyone can do. We did eerything to ensure my sister had a fa ntastic life regardless, and it still took her from us despite everything we had done.
love n hugs
Hi - i know you aren't supposed to put anything in their mouth but isn't there a risk of them biting off their tongue? I always thought you were supposed to use a bite block. I also was under the misconception that you were supposed to restrain them to stop them from hurting themselves. If this only harms them further then is there anything else you can do to prevent them from hurting themselves during the seizure other than cusioning their head? - thanks
It has been said along the years that placing something in someone's mouth keeps them from swallowing their tongue. A person can not swallow their tongue because it is attached. Placing an object into a seizure patient's mouth can cause more harm like chipping their teeth and swallowing it's pieces causing them to choke! I am a seizure patient and have been for 21yrs as well as an Student RN so please don't stick anything into the the patients mouth!
re putting objects in peoples mouths during seizure - I've had 3 in last 2 months and each time i've badly bitten my tongue and/or bottom lip so if anything or anyone's fingers were in my mouth, they would have been mangled! apparently I've been havin petit mal fits for years (i jus called them my 'wee episodes') but have just started having generalised seizures, falling to floor unconcious, jerkin badly, incontinent, etc.... has me really worried. can't understand why this has suddenly become so much worse - anyone any ideas? is it something i've been doin? is there anythin i can do to stop them? haven't started medication yet as tests still ongoing - takes sooooo long to sort out. want my life back - have become really scared, don't like bein alone but don't want another one in work or in public..... life sucks!!!!
today apirl 13, 2009 my best friend katie had a seizure after running hard in athletics she has had one befor at our basckitball tornament but it was not as bad as this one. she lead down on the grownd and said she was tierd and started shaking and her eyes rolled back in her head and had 3 seizures in 4 mins. and i had read this web site after the first one and this time i knew what to do. katie is only 13 years old and the world would be lost with out her
-ariel
Hi,
I've a question on the first aid section: it seems to me that instead of calling an ambulance if you know it's a persons first seizure, you should always call an ambulance if you don't know for a fact the person has a history of epilepsy. What do you think?
Al
If ever you are not sure, call an ambulance. They will understand!