Dr. Oz, first aid on seizures

[Der Cute]

Hi everyone.

This is Cutenoob, and I'm asking for people to please watch this clip - as it is the correct way to deal with seizures and epilepsy.

I've been banging my head against a wall for 20+ years about the "swallow tongue" theory of a seizure - and I'm tired of that myth still being populated.

Even if you don't know anyone with epilepsy, remember this: 10% of American population has epilepsy. Statistically, one in ten. You may run into someone having a seizure in a grocery store. This is what to do.

And also: epilepsy isnt the only cause for having a seizure. Diabetic shock, drug overdose, drug reaction, fever...

Thanks.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/seizure-first-aid


Cutenoob

[Eric the Grey]

Shows me what I know.

Although to my own credit, I knew the most important thing, keeping people from harming themselves on their surroundings. The only times I witnessed someone having a seizure, the first, I wasn't in a position to know or do anything about it (the restaurant I worked for called 911 and really pissed the guy off) and the second, I was on hand to keep him from hitting his head against the concrete, which I guess helped.

I would have called 911 on both counts, but I was skeptical about the whole swallowing of the tongue bit. He didn't address biting the tongue however. Are you not suppose to find something to keep the patient from biting their tongue?



Eric the Grey

[the_std]

He didn't address biting the tongue however. Are you not suppose to find something to keep the patient from biting their tongue?

Putting anything in their mouth while they're seizing could cause more damage than potentially biting their tongue.

[Flying Grype]

That's what my first aid class taught -- people don't 'swallow' their tongues, and putting anything in the mouth could do even more damage.

[Dytchdoctir]

That's what my first aid class taught -- people don't 'swallow' their tongues, and putting anything in the mouth could do even more damage.

You're absolutely right. Our upper and lower teeth are designed to meet each other. If a seizing person does bite down forcefully, an object between their teeth will concentrate the force of the bite on a small area, and the teeth near the object may shatter. The small fragments can then get into the airway and block it.

Dear me, the number of times I've encountered this myth.

I once entered a patient's home, to find her laying flat on the floor, struggling in the grip of numerous family members, and gasping for breath, around the LADLE SIZED SPOON that someone had put in her mouth. A so-helpful family member was even preventing her from trying to take it out!

I immediately moved in and removed the spoon, of course. And right on schedule, the family went ape-s**t.

"What are you doing?!?!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?! She'll SWALLOW HER TONGUE!!!!!!!!!"

In their desire to yell at me, they ALL forgot their intention to hold the poor woman down on the floor, and released her.

The patient immediately sat up.

She took several deep gasping breaths, got her bearings, and then yelled, "ALL OF YOU F***ERS SHUT THE F**K UP!!!!! YOU NEARLY KILLED ME JUST NOW! NOT ONE OF YOU RETARDS HAS A F***ING CLUE!!!!"

As I began my assessment of her, she said to me, "Sorry, honey. It's just that I can't believe I'm related to these idiots."

[Der Cute]

Oh, Dytch, that's f-in hilarious/scary in its own way.

I don't recall anyone ever trying to stuff a spoon/wallet into my mouth when i was having a seizure. I think the worst bit of force was 3 people holding me down. Then again, I was out in public, on the side of a street, just after a concert, and was running around trying to take my clothes off.

Not kidding there, that's a psychomotor seizure. Higher grade than the one the lady in the video was doing - remember her picking at her clothes and looking kind of spacey?

Cutenoob

[r2cagle]

I'm not sure I fully agree with the wait 5 minutes before calling 911. If I can't see a medical bracelet/tag that explains you have seizures or epilepsy, I'm gonna assume that it's another medical condition that needs immediate intervention. Like diabetic shock, or drug overdose/reaction, even fever, those shouldn't wait.

But then I know just enough about medicine to know that I'm out of my league on diagnosing anything, so I'd rather a person be embarrassed and be okay, than have someone not make the call and something tragic happens.

I did know about nothing in the mouth, and clearing a safe space around them. Not about gently redirecting someone having petit mal seizures though. Thanks Cutenoob for the additional resource.

[Eric the Grey]

That's what my first aid class taught -- people don't 'swallow' their tongues, and putting anything in the mouth could do even more damage.

Well, it's good to know. I wonder why none of my first aid training classes have mentioned it. I was certified once upon-a-time...

By the way, Thank You cutenoob for posting this.



Eric the Grey

[Amina516]

Good clip. !

[Der Cute]

I'm not sure I fully agree with the wait 5 minutes before calling 911. If I can't see a medical bracelet/tag that explains you have seizures or epilepsy, I'm gonna assume that it's another medical condition that needs immediate intervention. Like diabetic shock, or drug overdose/reaction, even fever, those shouldn't wait.

I did know about nothing in the mouth, and clearing a safe space around them. Not about gently redirecting someone having petit mal seizures though. Thanks Cutenoob for the additional resource.

R2 - you're perfectly in the right about calling 911. If you see a seizure and can't identify if the person is epileptic - just call. Please remember to time the start and end of seizures, and be able to describe movement and style - as much as you can.

Story time!

Many years ago I was working in a gas station and had 2 regulars that were Dev Delayed/Disabled people. They were pretty nice and harmless. One day Bob* was wandering around outside away from his lady friend *Lisa. One of the people in the deli yelled 'CUTENOOB!' and i went to ask them what the matter was. I saw Lisa* sitting in a booth and seizing. I had the deli people call 911, I tossed my watch to a couple of teenyboppers sitting close and yelled TIME IT, use the stopwatch.
I also had customers use one door not both to pave way for the EMTs. Now, during all this, was about 2 or 3 minutes. *Lisa did not stop seizing. After 5 min of continuous seizure, that's called Status Epilepticus. Kind of a seizure loop in the head, you can't stop it w/o drugs. All I did was sit with *Lisa and talk to her, and tell her that we had the EMTS on the way and we were watching and making sure she was ok.

She was taken to the hospital. She came back a few weeks later and told me thanks. I said are you back up on your meds? She said yes, and that she could hear me the whole time she was seizing.

point here: talk to us like toddlers. Soothing, quiet voices, and don't ask us anything more complicated than a yes or no question if you think we can answer it.

Cutenoob

[Supermarket Slave Girl]

My mother is an epileptic and has as many as 2 seizures a day, she was hit in the head with a baseball bat when she was 17.

Basically my sister and I were taught what to do from a very young age and we grew used to it over the years.

One time, mum and I were shopping and she started fitting in the middle of the mall, I was around 14 at the time, I was on the ground with her and I had a massive audience around me which I was trying to get to leave because mum would be embarrassed as all hell that people were staring at her.

I had people screaming to call 000, had people yelling to get that dumb kid (aka me) away from her, even had people try to push me away even though i'm trying to explain that she's my mum and she'll be fine in a few minutes ( her fits would only last 3 mins at the most).

Ambos did arrive after she was out of it and sitting up, she was checked out and we were allowed to leave, I called a taxi, got us home and took money from her purse to pay for it, none of this she remembers nor all the people standing around.

She would tell us when she was about to seize, she would get a sick feeling in her stomach which would rise to her throat, this was when my sister and I would get everything harmful out of her way.