You cannot catch epilepsy
You cannot catch epilepsy
You cannot catch epilepsy
You cannot catch epilepsy
You cannot catch epilepsy
You cannot catch epilepsy
If you see a person having a seizure,
Don’t run, don’t pour water on them,
Don’t put stick/spoon in their mouth.
Please.
Do NOT put their feet in fire.
Do NOT hit or shake them
Do NOT put anything in their mouth.
You can damage their teeth and cause bruises and wounds.
Do NOT gather around them, fold your hands, put hands on your head and be doing “ehya ikunle abiyamo what a pity”
Please.
WHAT TO DO IF SOMEONE IS HAVING A SEIZURE:
Be calm- most seizures look scary but they don’t actually kill.
Take away dangerous items around the person.
Place them on their side- it helps them breathe.
Time the seizure- most will stop before 5minutes, if longer, call ambulance.
Eventually in most cases, the jerking and abnormal movements you see will stop on its own and the person will spontaneously regain consciousness ON THEIR OWN.
That’s why you do not need to do anything other than make them safe for the period that they have the seizure.
Immediately after the seizure, they may be a bit confused and disoriented for a few minutes.
Again, do not panic and do not worry; they will eventually come around, this is absolutely normal.
Just stay with them, reassure them and ask if there’s anyone they want you to call.
If however you notice the person is still having the seizure after about 3-4 minutes, call an ambulance or get a vehicle to quickly get them to a hospital.
In a few cases, the seizure may need injections to stop it.
And some people may end up being admitted for a few days even.
But again, this is not what happens in majority of cases and usually all you need is a good knowledge of First Aid regarding seizures which is what I have already outlined in the first set of tweets.
For many cases of seizures, you do not need to do more than what I advised.
In sane countries, people with epilepsy have a medical bracelet which they have to wear just in case they collapse publicly.
The aim of the bracelet/handband is to help medics and first aid providers know what is the most likely cause of a patient’s collapse if it is unwitnessed.
And actually the medical bracelet is very good in that it can even contain a telephone number that medical personnel can call for more information about the person, like their usual doctor, their partner or next of kin.
These are simple innovative things we can also adopt here.
Again for avoidance of doubt.
DO NOT PUT ANYTHING IN THE MOUTH OF A PERSON HAVING A SEIZURE.
You will do them more harm.
You will do them NO good. It is a myth and a lie that they will swallow their tongue.
There’s NO truth to that belief.
Please put NOTHING in their mouth.
What you end up achieving is hurting them more, bruising their tongue and mouth, damaging their teeth and possibly knocking off their teeth which they may now swallow, aspirate and die.
The epilepsy itself will not kill them.
YOU will have killed them with your overzealous act.
And finally to those who have epilepsy and have loved ones with epilepsy, a few general advice will be:
-make sure they use their medications regularly
-Make sure they have a regular doctor monitoring their progress
-make sure they are regular at the doctors appointments
-avoid bright lights like from computer screen, TV screens or night clubs as it may trigger seizure
-try not to skip meals
-try to avoid stress, anxiety and emotional upsets
-try to avoid alcohol if you can
-stay away from things like weed and hard drugs which trigger seizures
-don’t go swimming, hiking or do any extreme sport on your own with no supervision or anyone around
-if you have an epilepsy bracelet, wear it at all times, you never kno when you will need it
-always carry in your wallet a phone number for your next of kin.
Thanks for reading.
Yours sincerely,
