First Aid-Lesson 17-Seizures and epilepsy
A seizure is a single, temporary event caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Epilepsy is a chronic neurological condition characterised by recurrent, unprovoked seizures.
When sorting out symptoms, consider these four main characteristics of seizures:
Seizures are usually
- Unpredictable – you often can’t predict when and where a seizure may happen
- Episodic – seizures can come and go
- Brief – usually lasts only seconds to a few minutes
- Stereotypic – symptoms are similar whenever they occur
Symptoms of seizures
- Repeated, unusual movements such as head nodding or rapid blinking.
- Drooling from the mouth.
- Loss of consciousness.
- Odd feelings, often indescribable
- Unusual smells, tastes, or feelings
- Unusual experiences – “out-of-body” sensations; feeling detached; body looks or feels different; situations or people look unexpectedly familiar or strange
- Feeling spacey, fuzzy, or confused
- Periods of forgetfulness or memory lapses
- Daydreaming episodes
- Jerking movements of an arm, leg, or body
- Falling
- Tingling, numbness, or feelings of electricity in a part of the body
- Headaches
- Unexplained confusion, sleepiness, weakness
- Losing control of urine or stool unexpectedly
Symptoms of epilepsy
A neurological condition that affects the nervous system and is known as a seizure disorder, which may not be diagnosed unless the casualty has had a minimum of two seizures.
Seizures seen in epilepsy are caused by disturbances in the electrical activity of the brain. The seizures in epilepsy may be related to a brain injury, genetics, immune, brain structure or metabolic cause, but most of the time the cause is unknown.
First aid for seizures and epilepsy
Remove any objects that may cause an injury, dial 000, roll the casualty into the lateral position after the seizure and monitor vital signs.