A blog devoted to epilepsy and seizures wouldn't be complete without a token discussion of first aid for seizures. What do you do if someone near you starts going into a seizure?
A common misconception is that placing an object in a person's mouth will keep them from swallowing their tongue. First of all, it's impossible to swallow your tongue. If that were the case, how many of us would've done that already in our sleep? Tongues weren't made to be choked on, see. Another reason why someone may think putting something in a person's mouth during a seizure is for the sake of their tongue's safety. During a grand mal, its extremely common for someone to bite their tongue. It's also common for a person to involuntarily chew on their tongue during a seizure. Heck, I did! My tongue was sore for days after my grand mal seizure - I don't know if it was from a sudden bite, or from chewing - but nonetheless, it hurt afterwards! However, its better to have a sore tongue than to possibly choke on something else placed in my mouth with the intent to keep my tongue from being sore. Not to mention what this could do to your teeth...ouch.
If someone goes into a grand mal - have them lay on their side with something soft under their head. DO NOT hold them down - and be sure to remove their glasses or anything else that could get broken or pose a risk to them. Time the seizure. Call 911. Keep other people away from them. Its actually really simple - anyone could do it. You can look up this information anywhere, too (Epilepsy Foundation is my primary source for this)- be prepared because you never know when you might be in a position to help someone.
As far as complex partial seizures go - well, that's a little tougher. You can't always tell when someone is having a seizure just by looking at them. A person may be having a seizure while only appearing to be slightly disoriented, or lost. Wandering, blank staring, speaking jibberish, unresponsiveness, involuntary body movements, chewing...the list goes on. It's not always very obvious, though. However, if you suspect that a person is having a seizure, monitor them. Talk to them to test their responsiveness. Reassure them that they'll be all right. Time the seizure, and call 911 if they don't recover, or if they remained confused. I wouldn't have thought about this, but among these other tips, remind the person of the date, time, and where they are when they seem coherent enough to understand. The Epilepsy Foundation has all these tips on their website - and I have information sheets for this hanging on my refrigerator in case my husband ever finds himself in a situation where he needs to assist me.
I heard an interesting thing the other day from a friend. She told me to stay away from artificial sweeteners (which I'll do, HAPPILY, because they're disgusting), because artificial sweeteners have been thought to trigger seizures in certain people. Anyone else heard of this? There are so many things that can lead to seizures, I wouldn't be shocked if this were true. Anyway, that's all I have for tonight. Tune in next time for something else that you may or may not know about epilepsy and seizures.
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ReplyDeleteEpilepsy has gone from an obscure mental illness, to a serious illness recognized by state foundations. This remarkable awareness, is because of the great work organizations, such as yourself, has done. We here, at Disease.com, fully support the cause your organization stands for and we are dedicated to aiding in your mission statement. Disease.com is a website which features disease and infection preventions/treatments. If you could, please list us as a resource or host our social book mark button, it would be much appreciated. Lets dedicate our time to the welfare of the 3 million individuals with epilepsy.
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