I knew it was nothing that would endanger others, but I really didn’t know how to help her because she did not tell me what to do if she does get an attack. So I called a coordinator, and she tried to put a spoon into he mouth but could not. It was actually quite short seizure. And after she calmed down, she was asleep again, as if nothing had happened.

The next day I talked to her about it. She called home and got her medication from her mom. But for the rest of the camp she was fine. The good thing was she was still accepted by many and made many new friends.

That’s my one and only actual encounter of someone with epilepsy.

Take care, MG. Glad I found out more about this.

Now you know that putting a spoon or other object in the mouth is actually the wrong thing to do. It might block up the person’s airways or break their teeth or cause them to accidentally swallow the object which is much worse than just letting the seizure pass and making sure they lie down on their side and recover on their own afterwards. It is also not necessary to call the ambulance etc unless the person cannot recover after 5 minutes in which case it will then be a medical emergency. Otherwise like your friend they will just fall into a deep sleep afterwards and the worse that they feel is a hurt tongue and tiredness.

So you know what to do now to help someone in a seizure hopefully.

Thanks.

The best thing to do is not to do anything accept to make sure that the person will not hurt himself. Remove any hard objects that they could knock into. Make them lie in the recovery position afterwards, which would be lying on the side to prevent anything from blocking their airways and so that they don’t swallow any vomit etc that could cause pneumonia and other complications. As for medication, I think it would be best to check with your child’s doctor before stopping. There are many drugs out there, some of which may be more suitable and not cause those side effects. The best person to check with is still the doctor. There is one type of epilepsy that is brought on by flashing lights which is called photosensitive epilepsy. Those who have that may perhaps need to take rests in between using the tv, pc etc. However the best person to tell if your son is affected by those is yourself and the doc. The best way to help a doc diagnose is to give the doc a good description of the seizure. You should never stop a medication on your own without the doc’s approval. I read somewhere that the meds is like the dam that holds the seizures at bay. Stopping the medication suddenly would be like releasing the dam and increase the chances of a seizure so always consult your doc first. I know it doesn’t sound very reassuring but I hope that helps. And if you ever need to talk to someone, you can write to me. I’m a mother too and I think it’ll be more frightening for me to witness my kids having a seizure than for me to have one! My only fear is scaring the kids but we talk about it openly so they won’t be scared.

Thanks for reading.