Do I need to call an ambulance for an epileptic seizure? Check how to respond to an attack

The patient website.gov.pl reminds about the principles of first aid in case of an epileptic attack and how to recognize an epileptic attack. Only in Poland about 400,000 people suffer from epilepsy. People.

How to recognize an epileptic seizure?

Epileptic seizures are usually accompanied by convulsions. However, there may be symptoms associated with impaired sensitivity: vision, smell and hearing. There may also be violations of the mental, autonomic and motor (motor) spheres. An epileptic seizure is not always the convulsions with which we associate epilepsy. In some patients, during seizures, they do not occur at all - an epileptic seizure occurs when there is a temporary absence of contact with the environment or its difficulty (usually this applies to children). Then an epileptic seizure may look like “thinking”. An epileptic seizure usually lasts from a few seconds to 2-3 minutes.

Do they call an ambulance during an attack?

When you witness an epileptic seizure:

• Keep calm,

• remove hazardous objects from the environment,

• don’t stop the attack

• do not put anything in the patient’s mouth,

• put the person in a lateral position, the so-called set to ensure adequate airway patency.

You don’t usually need to call for help with an epileptic seizure. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Call an ambulance when:

• this is the first seizure of a man

• seizures last more than 5 minutes

• epileptic seizures follow one after another and the patient does not regain consciousness,

• in a pregnant woman or a person with diabetes

• trauma occurs during an epileptic seizure.

Remember that after the attack is over, the patient may be tired and drowsy - then he should be allowed to rest - or agitated.