FIRST AID FOR EPILEPTIC SEIZURE
Today we will understand what epilepsy is, talk about its manifestations, and first aid in epileptic seizures. Epilepsy was known in ancient times. Many great emperors, artists, and writers, suffered from such epileptic seizures. Due to its aura, there are many myths and prejudices around this mystic disease. Today, epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases globally, ranking third after stroke and Alterna disease. Worldwide about 50 million people have epilepsy. It occurs in all population groups, in people of all ages, races, and socio-economic levels. Most patients develop seizures before the age of 21, or in old age.
What is epilepsy? Epilepsy is a chronic non-infectious disease, caused by brain damage. It manifests itself through sudden repeated epileptic seizures, and leads to a variety of personality changes. Causes of epilepsy are different. Heredity plays a vital role in disease development. Head injuries and brain tumors can also provoke epilepsy. Stroke is the leading cause of epilepsy in adults over 35 years. Infectious disease such as menengitis, AIDS, and viral encephalitis are proved reasons as well. In children, epilepsy usually develops due to violation of the intrauterine period. It can be a mother infection, poor nutrition, or hypoxia.
An epileptic seizure is caused by intense cortical excitation. Typically, a group of cells in one part of the brain loses electrical stability, forming epileptic focus. It creates a strong electrical discharge, that rapidly spreads to the surrounding cells. Disrupting their normal functioning. Seizures manifestations depend on the epileptic focus location. Electrical discharges can affect the whole brain or only part of it. Therefore, symptoms may vary dependent on the seizures type.
If the focus is in the motor cortex, the patients will have convulsive seizures. If the temporal lobe is affected, there will be hearing impairment and auditory hallucinations. When the focus is located in the occipital lobe, epilepsy will manifest as a visual impairment. Seizures may also cause different degrees of consciousness disorder. Good to know, but in most cases a person with epilepsy will each time have the same type of seizure. So that the symptoms will be similar from episode to episode.
Before an epilepsy attack, some people have a condition called an aura. Aura is subjective experience that a person with epilepsy feels, manifest in entirely different ways. These may be headaches, feelings of fear, mood swings, conscious disturbances. Patients may experience visual sensations like flashes, or flies in the eyes. Or auditory hallucinations, such as ringing bells. However, an aura is not mandatory. Seizures are still the main display. The duration of an epileptic seizure is typically two to five minutes. But let's remember that epilepsy is not a contagious disease. So we can safely provide first aid in this condition.
What is the danger of a seizure? If a victim passes out and falls, he may hit his head on an object or the ground. Therefore, your goal is to prevent secondary injury. Let's look at an epileptic seizure from the beginning. Usually the attack has a sudden start. In this case the victim stops responding to external stimuli. You can ask, “How do you feel?
Do you need any help?”
Then the person loses consciousness and falls, causing the secondary injury to himself. Next, convulsions appear. The first phase of an epileptic seizure, is the tonic phase which lasts from 10 to 30 seconds. During the tonic phase, the muscles are in a maximum tension. So the body has a specific tonic position. All the extensor muscles turn up and contract. The back is arched, the arms and legs are tense. Breathing is stopped, which may cause the lips to turn blue. Then the tonic stage turns into a chronic phase, all muscles begin to tense and relax. Which looks like an erratic twitching. On average, the chronic phase lasts from one to five minutes.
Different factors may provoke such a seizure; a stroke, stress, open fire, bright flashes, or light. Prolonged fatigue, alcohol and drug use, excessive use of caffeine drugs, or drinks.
Now, let's have a look at the first aid for developing epileptic seizures. Remember, it is forbidden to move the victim during epileptic seizures. Except in emergency cases. Remove all dangerous objects that could cause injury. If the person is wearing glasses, remove them as well. Please put something soft under his head. Do not hold the victim tight, trying to stop the seizures. It will not influence the muscle tone, but it can easily cause injuries. However, you have to prevent the victim’s head damage, holding it on your knees when sitting. Loosening the clothes around the neck and head area. It would be useful if you note the time of the epileptic seizures start, to set its duration. It is believed that during the seizure, the tongue may block the airways. But this is a misconception. As mentioned above all the muscles including the tongue, are inhibitors. So the tongue physiologically cannot block the airways in such a state. Never place any hard objects in the mouth to unclench a person’s jaws. The jaw muscles are the most strong muscles of the body. So you will not be able to open the mouth, and there is a huge risk of cracking the teeth.
If there is saliva in the mouth because they’ve bitten their tongue or cheeck, turn the person sideways so that the saliva can leave the mouth. After the cramp stops, do not let the patient get up. Let him slowly recover. Please do not leave him alone. Do not feed, do not give water and pills, until the patient fully regains consciousness. After the seizure, you can call his relatives and inform them about the episode if you find their phone number. There is a recommendation for all people with epilepsy to wear an information bracelet or pendant. Which will help the eye witness to act appropriately. It should contain the person's data, full name, relative’s phone number, and medications taken. There is no need for emergency medical care, if a person has already been diagnosed with epilepsy.
If he has had similar seizures before then his condition is quite normal, and he responds accordingly to questions, & if the epileptic seizures last no longer than five minutes, or the person was not traumatized during the episode. However, medical help is mandatory when seizures last longer than five minutes or resume, or the person does not regain consciousness after five minutes, the person has diabetes or he's injured, or the person has never had a seizure before. Or, a life threatening condition has been detected. Or the episode happened with a pregnant woman.
When providing first aid in epilepsy, do not splash the person with cold water to bring him to the senses, or do CPR.
It is also not recommended to wake a person by shaking, slapping or let him breathe in smelling salt. Let the victim regain consciousness themselves.
To sum up, you have learned what epilepsy is. The causes and triggers of an epileptic seizure, its symptoms and the algorithm of first aid in the development of an epileptic seizure.