First Aid and things you should known about Seizures

A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain. It occurs when the electrical activity of the brain becomes irregular and can cause changes in the person's behavior, movements or feelings and levels of consciousness. Seizures can be caused by either acute or chronic condition such as epilepsy.

Epilepsy on the other hand is when someone has two or more seizures with no known cause or has a tendency to have recurrent seizures. Anything that breaks connections (such as withdrawal of drug, high or low blood sugar level, alcohol, high fever) between nerve cells in the brain can cause seizure.


Note when seizures occur, they don't last for more than 5 minutes but if they do, you need to call/dial emergency line and be ready to fill the incident reports as well.

Emergency numbers should not be called at all time rather they can be called only 

• If the person has a repeated seizure attack soon after the first one.
• The person has never had a seizure attack before.
• The seizure has lasted for more than 5 minutes.
• The person is vomiting or has medical health conditions, such as pregnancy, heart disease, diabetes etc.
• The person gets hurt during the seizure attack.

Symptoms of seizures

• A sudden feeling of fear or anxiousness
• Headache
• Dizziness
• A jerk movement of arms and legs that may cause the person to fall
• A feeling of being sick to your stomach

Symptoms that indicate a seizure is in progress include:

• When he/she loses consciousness, followed by confusion
• Making loud noises.
• Having sudden rapid eye movement
• Having sudden mood changes
• Biting his/her tongue
• Having strange taste in mouth
• Losing control of bladder.
• Losing control of bowel movement e.t.c

First Aid for seizure

• Stay with the person until the seizure ends, take note of the time it started, if it last for more than 5 minutes or the person vomits, call for EMS service right away.
• Keep other people out of the way.
• Clear hard or sharp objects away from the person.
• Don't try to hold the victim down or stop the movements.
• Place her on her side, to help keep her airway clear.
• Don't put anything in her mouth.
• Comfort the person and speak calmly

Don'ts when someone is having seizure attacks

• Do not restraint or hold the person down. Allow the seizure to take it's course.
• Do not put anything in the person's mouth as the victim cannot swallow his/her tongue.
• Do not try to give mouth to mouth breaths as they usually starts to breath on their own.
• Don not offer the person water or food until the/she is fully alert.