Strange Famous

There is a guy at work who has epilepsy, he normally has like 3-4 minor fits a week (at work) but they are not really that noticeable, he just kind of blanks out for a little bit... but yesterday he had the worse fit I had seen him have, he was making noises and he kind of half fell backwards of his chair and, you know, he was pretty out of it, for about 30 seconds, then he fell on the floor and kind of started... then he sort of came too, went to the bathroom for 5 minutes, and when he came back he said he was ok.

I just... is there anything you can do for someone when they go into a fit?

He has said all we can do is leave him when he goes like that... but, is there a point where it gets to when it isnt a good idea to leave him?

When he went down I was thinking - should I call one of the first aiders...? but 10 minutes later he seemed fine, he was very quiet, but I guess that was probably more he felt ackward.

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Slavakion

If he starts having worse seizures, where he sorta flails around (for lack of a better word), you could make sure that he doesn't hit his head on something. That's all that I can think of.

Jim Kata

One of my really good friends has a bad case of epilepsy. And he always says if he has a seizure to just let him ride it out. That doesn't mean if he is banging his head on something hard not to put something softer in between to avoid some serious head injury.

TheProf

In the case of epilepsy one thing you should be aware of is the duration of the seizure. If it lasts more than 5 minutes it is classified as Status Epilepsy which can be life-threatening. 10% of such cases can result in death. In that case you should call an ambulance right away.
Hope that helps.

Dark Assailant

Wow I wonder what I'd do if that would happen to one of my co-workers. Cause I usually try to help out.

Kinda seems weird to just let them rage it out but I know nothing about epilepsy

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MSD

Make sure he doesn't hit his head, and try to open airways if he starts choking.

amonkie

After working with several people who have regular seizures, the general rule of thumb is:

1) If they're sitting on something where they can fall off, help them down to the ground if they start slipping

2) Move away anything that they could fall against and hurt themselves

3) If they have food in their mouth, get the food out ASAP to prevent them from choking on it- this has been my hardest thing to do, since they're not in control of what their teeth are doing, and teeth are sharp.

4) Time the length of the seizure - most seizures are generally anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple minutes, but as somebody said, anything over 5 minutes is serious. The seizure has been going on long enough to cause severe enough damage to the brain that could be fatal. When it comes to time, if a seizure still going after 2 minutes, get 911 on the phone and let them know what's going on. Even if the seizure is over before they get there, they'll be able to ask you questions to guage where they are in their seizure cycle.

The hardest part is seeing one for the first time. I know I just kind of froze for a second or two, until I realized what was happening and snapped. Now that I've been around it for 4 years, while it's still not a fun part of life, I'm much more prepared and calm when the seizures do happen.

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