Epilepsy Awareness Day

Today is Epilepsy Awareness Day so we thought we would share a little bit of knowledge about Epilepsy. Epilepsy is a condition where a person has regular seizures. A seizure is a surge of electricity in the brain which affects how a person acts and moves for a period of time. 

 

Our understanding of the brain and how it works isn’t as good as other parts of the body. Victorian doctors used to cut up dead bodies and make hearts beat and lungs inflate to help them understand how the body worked but when a brain is taken outside the body it is unable to work. Medicine has advanced a long way since the Victorian era and now that doctors have MRI scans, CT scans and EEGs they are beginning to understand how the brain works more. 

 

There are around 40 different types of seizure ranging from partial seizures, where a person is only partly affected and may appear to be day dreaming, to general seizures where a person’s whole body is affected. The type of seizure most commonly known is a tonic-clonic seizure where a person’s body becomes rigid then makes sudden violent jerking movements. Seizures are dramatic and can be frightening to watch. A person may lose control of their bladder or bowels. 

 

What should you do? 

 

Do not move or restrain the person 

Protect the person’s head by placing a cushion or a folded coat under to protect it from injury 

Loosen any tight clothing around their neck to help them breathe 

Move any objects nearby away to prevent them harming themselves 

Ask any bystanders to move away to protect the person’s modesty 

Take a note of the time the seizure started and how long it lasts 

Call 999 and ask for an ambulance if: 

If they are not a known epileptic or it is their first seizure 

The seizure last more than 5 minutes 

They don’t begin to recover within 5 minutes of a seizure 

They begin to have a second seizure 

If they are unresponsive for more than 10 minutes 

Once the seizure stops check their airway and breathing and be prepared to resusitate 

Place in the recovery position 

Do not leave them alone. Keep checking their breathing and level of consciousness