A seizure looks frightening and usually stops by itself within two minutes. Almost everything people instinctively do to help makes it worse. There are five things to do and three not to do, and knowing them is the difference between a person who is safe and a person with a broken tooth or a burnt hand.
Do this
- Note the time it starts. This is the one measurement that decides everything after.
- Move hard and sharp things away, and move them away from fire, water and the road.
- Put something soft under the head.
- Loosen anything tight at the neck.
- When the shaking stops, turn them onto their side so that saliva and vomit drain out. This is the recovery position.
- Stay until they are fully awake and know where they are. That can take twenty minutes.
Do not do this
- Do not put anything in the mouth. Not a spoon, not a finger, not cloth. People cannot swallow their tongue. You will break teeth or lose a finger.
- Do not hold them down or try to stop the movements. You will cause a dislocation.
- Do not give food, water or medicine until they are completely awake.
- Do not throw water on them or make them smell anything.
Go to hospital if
- The fit lasts more than five minutes.
- Another fit follows without them waking up in between.
- It is their first ever fit.
- They are injured, or it happened in water or near fire.
- They are pregnant.
- They do not wake up properly afterwards.
- They have a fever as well, or a stiff neck.
- They are diabetic, or it followed a head injury.
Epilepsy is not a curse, and you cannot catch it
This needs saying plainly because the belief costs lives here. Epilepsy is a condition of the brain. It is not witchcraft, it is not a punishment, and it does not pass from one person to another through saliva, touch or sharing food. Treating it as spiritual is why people are hidden at home instead of being treated, and the medicines that control it are cheap and work for most people.
Fits in a child with fever
A short fit during a high fever in a child between six months and five years is common and is usually not epilepsy. It is still a reason to have the child seen the same day, because the fever needs a cause, and malaria and meningitis both cause fits.
