Seizure Care

What is a seizure?

A seizure is a strong surge of electricity that can affect all or part of the brain and can last seconds to several minutes. If an individual has two unprovoked seizures they are considered to have epilepsy. Symptoms can vary from a seizure showing the convulsive jerking of a tonic/clonic seizure to one that only exhibits  staring off for a few seconds, called an absence seizure .  There are many different types of seizures. Epileptic seizures are caused by abnormal electrical changes in the brain, in particular, the outer brain layer or cortex. For additional information on epilepsy go to www.epilepsyfoundation.org/

Signs and Symptoms

Seizures can occur while awake or during sleep and can last seconds or several minutes. Signs vary for  different types of seizures and can include any listed below;

  • visual or auditory hallucinations prior to start of seizure, is known as an aura.
  • stiffening of the limbs(tonic phase) followed by jerking of the limbs and face (clonic phase)
  • sudden jerk or twitching
  • unconsciousness -either brief or longer period of time
  • clumsiness
  • lapse of awareness-staring- begins and ends abruptly
  • head drop

Response and Treatment

  1. Keep the person safe until seizure stops
  2. Keep Calm - call to Nurse for assist and state students name
  3. Begin to time the seizure.  If  medication for seizures is prescribed  (rectal diazepam)  administer as ordered by Md
  4. Do not hold down
  5. Protect the head by placing soft article beneath the head
  6. Loosen restrictive clothing and remove eyeglasses if need be
  7. The individuals color  can become blue during seizure, observe for return of color
  8. Turn person onto their side after seizure
  9. If person has no history of prior seizure call 911
  10. If breathing does not resume call 911 and start CPR
  11. If seizure stops and begins again call 911

 

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