Developed in Partnership with HEALTH FACT SHEET No. 14

March 2008 Ce n t e r f o r Developmental Disabilities STATE OF CONNECTICUT Evaluation and Research Department of Developmental Services

HEALTH IDENTIFIERS & SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS SEIZURES The brain “talks” to the rest of the body using electrical signals. Sometimes, there is too much electrical activity in the brain. When this happens, you might lose control of your mucles, lose consciousness or have a change in behavior. This is called a seizure. People who have many seizures are said to have epilepsy.

SOME FACTS about SIGNS & SYMPTOMS SEIZURES A Tonic-Clonic seizure looks very different from an absence seizure. If a person has a seizure, ƒ There are two main classes of seizures: Generalized the most important thing is to prevent an injury and and Partial Seizures. Partial seizures (common or record the symptoms. complex) only affect part of the brain. Generalized seizures involve all parts of the brain and are more TONIC CLONIC SEIZURE: common. Before the seizure there maybe a sense of anxiety, ƒ Generalized seizures can be further divided into tonic- nausea, dizziness, a change in vision, or a strong clonic/grand mal seizures or absence/petit mal smell. seizures. During the seizure, the person may have: ƒ Tonic Clonic (formerly called Grand Mal): These are often recognized by uncontrollable ƒ Loss of consciousness muscle jerking, sudden loss of muscle strength, ƒ Muscle spasms and twitching limbs loss of bladder control, and temporary loss of ƒ Tingling in parts of the body consciousness. ƒ Stiffening of the entire body ƒ Absence (formerly called Petit Mal): These are ƒ Stop breathing for a moment more common in children. It is sometimes hard ƒ Fall down to recognize when someone is having an ƒ Drool, froth at the mouth, grunt or snort absence seizure. The person might appear to be ƒ Loss of bladder or bowel control day-dreaming or not paying attention, but in Eyes may stare in one direction reality, they are unable to respond. They may ƒ also display unusual behaviors. ƒ Skin may turn very red or even blue ABSENCE SEIZURE - the person may: ƒ Be unresponsive, “not there” CAUSES ƒ Stare “into space” or blink very quickly ƒ Appear drunk or drugged It is not always possible to determine ƒ Move without purpose the cause of a seizure. However, they are sometimes ƒ Appear to be chewing or smacking lips caused by the following: ƒ Fidget or pick at clothing ƒ Have skin changes such as sweating or goose bumps ƒ High fevers in infants ƒ An injury to the brain, a brain tumor or a stroke ƒ A reaction to a vaccine, poison, snake bites, medication, drugs or alcohol CAUTION PREVENTION ƒ Electric shock ƒ Choking ƒ For people known to have seizures: Ensure they ƒ Heart Disease take their prescribed medications as directed ƒ Heat illness ƒ Prevent Injury: People who have epilepsy often know ƒ Medication withdrawal before they are going to have a seizure. If they think they ƒ Low blood sugar are about to have a seizure, lay them down on their side in a place where they are not likely to get hurt should they ƒ Toxemia in pregnancy start to seize. HEALTH IDENTIFIERS & SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS

HEALTH FACT SHEET No. 14 March 2008 SEIZURES

WHAT TO DO CALL YOUR DOCTOR

DURING the Seizure Call the doctor or the nurse: ƒ Protect the person from injury ƒ Lie the person down (on their side if possible) ƒ If this is the first seizure, seek emergency ƒ Remove sharp objects from the area medical care. ƒ Loosen or remove tight clothing like ties and ƒ If this is NOT the first seizure, the doctor should collars, also remove glasses have given instructions about what to document ƒ Watch the person’s breathing. If they have trouble such as when it started, how long it lasted, what breathing, seek immediate medical attention it looked like, and how long it took to recover. ƒ Stay calm and observe the seizure. It is important to Instructions will include when a call to the doctor is know how long it lasted and what were the signs needed. ƒ Let the person have a seizure - You can NOT stop it AFTER the Seizure ƒ Continue to observe breathing ƒ Stay with the person until they are awake EMERGENCY ƒ Let the person rest. They will be tired ƒ Record the seizure (length, what happened) Immediately seek medical care if: ƒ Call the doctor if needed ƒ This is the first seizure ƒ This seizure is very different from the usual seizure WHAT NOT TO DO ƒ The seizure lasts for more than 5 minutes ƒ There is trouble breathing, or the person turns DO NOT try to stop the seizure ƒ blue or has a poor color, if the person is not ƒ DO NOT try to force anything into the person’s breathing more than one minute after the mouth or between their teeth seizure ends START CPR ƒ DO NOT allow them to drink or eat anything until ƒ The person remains unconscious they are completely awake ƒ There is an injury ƒ The seizures occur one right after the other DOCUMENT

ƒ Be sure to record: –Go ƒ What the person was doing before the seizure TO LEARN MORE to these websites: ƒ How long the seizure lasted ƒ What the seizure looked like ƒ http://www.epilepsy.com ƒ How long the person took to recover ƒ http://www.allrefer.com ƒ File an Incident Report (if required) and complete other documentation such as writing down a ƒ http://www.webMD.com description in the logbook if the person requires ƒ http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/seizures.html emergency medical care.

The Health Identifiers and Symptoms of Illness Series has been developed by the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services to serve as a resource for consumers, families and personal support professionals. The information contained in this series is not a substitute for personal professional examination and treatment provided by a health care professional. Always follow the instructions and advice of your doctor or other health professional.