How to Treat a Seizure

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Overview

Most seizures that people have are not lift threatening, and they are easily managed. In most cases, the person suffers from epilepsy or other medical conditions that are causing these seizures to happen. The only time that someone should be concerned is if this seizure follows an injury to the head, if the person has diabetes or is pregnant. High fever in children can cause seizures, and this is known as febrile seizures, which are often treated differently.

How to Treat the Seizure:

1. Always ensure you are being safe, which many mean follow all the universal medical precautions as well as wearing protective equipment if this is possible.
2. Be calm. If you are anxious, everyone around you is going to have this issue as well. Remain calm and others will follow.
3. Be sure to time the seizure so that you know how long this has happened. The timing of a seizure is going to affect how this is treated. Be sure to use a watch to time this, as you will find that with all the chaos it can be easy to overestimate the time.
4. Make sure there are no objects within the person’s reach so that they do not hurt themselves, as seizures can be violent.
5. Loosen the clothing around the person’s neck if this is tight, as this can make it harder to breathe.
6. Use some sort of padding under the head, such as a rolled up jacket.
7. Roll the victim onto their side, this way if they were to vomit it is not going to choke them. Do not put anything into their mouth, as the old tale of the person swallowing their tongue is a myth. Though, they may bite you if you try this, so avoid it.
8. When the seizure is lasting longer than five minutes, call 911.
9. After the seizure has passed, the person should regain consciousness, if they do not, call 911.
10. If the person stops breathing after this seizure, call 911.

Tips for Dealing with a Seizure:

1. You should call 911 if:
   1. The seizure occurs in water
   2. You are unsure of why the person is having a seizure
   3. The victim is pregnant
   4. The person has diabetes
   5. There is an injury involved
   6. The seizure is lasting more than five minutes
   7. There are back to back seizures
2. 911 does not need to called if the person wakes up within 5 minutes, do not suffer another seizure and seems to have no issues with dealing with the after effects of the seizure.

This is the tips that are provided by the Epilepsy Foundation.

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