Would you know what to do in the event of an epileptic seizure?

Epilepsy is a chronic disease, most children with epilepsy take daily medication for years. Treatment is effective in 70% of cases, but does not guarantee that seizures will disappear.

Seizures can appear at any time and in any place, so it is normal that in the face of this uncertainty, teachers want to have a plan of action.

What is a seizure?

Although people with epilepsy are the most prone to suffer epileptic seizures, the reality is that seizures can have many other causes, such as severe trauma, infections or fever, among other pathologies to the point that 10% of people may suffer a seizure at some point in their lives.

It is important to remember that not all seizures are epilepsy and not all epilepsies cause seizures, but the reality is that when a seizure (intense and involuntary contraction of a group of muscles or all the muscles of the body) occurs in an epileptic seizure, it is very frightening, to the point of not knowing what to do.

This fear of the unknown means that many children with epilepsy still feel the stigma of the disease and, in addition to the seizures, suffer from rejection. It is therefore essential to combat this fear with information, to know what epilepsy is and what to do in the event of a seizure.

What to do in the event of a seizure due to epileptic seizure

These are the recommended steps to follow if we detect an epileptic seizure or convulsions in someone close to us:

1. Stay calm: ask for help from people close to you and call the emergency number (112 in Spain).
2. Protect from injury: prevent possible injury to the affected person by removing nearby objects, lowering him to the ground if he is in a high place or removing him from the water if he is submerged.
3. Loosen clothing: to avoid suffocation, unbutton shirts, zippers and belts to facilitate breathing.
4. Do not open the mouth: if the mouth is closed, do not try to open it and do not put anything in it.
5. Do not immobilize: with the movement of seizures many people tend to hold the affected person out of fear, but it is not recommended because holding him/her will not prevent the seizure and may even lengthen it.
6. Observe: During a seizure, it is useful to observe how long it lasts, whether the person is conscious, whether his eyes are open or closed, what movements he makes and even what he was doing when the seizure occurred.
7. Safety position: when the crisis is over, the affected person should be placed in the safety position, which consists of the following steps:
   1. Bend the left knee
   2. Stretch the right arm above the head.
   3. Bend the left arm
   4. Turn the body on its right side
   5. Place the left hand under the face

It is essential to stay by the child’s side until the seizure is over. In the case of a child with epilepsy, there will be individual considerations that need to be known in order to effectively help each individual child, often including the administration of medication to reduce the risk of hospitalization.

If you are interested in learning more about different aspects of epilepsy, you can read more on Dr. Mas’ blog in the epilepsy section, which you can find by clicking here.