A seizure is a neurological condition where your brain experiences an uncontrollable electrical disturbance that can cause disruptive changes in your body movements, convulsions and affect your consciousness. If you have 2 or more seizures in 24 hours (without any definite cause) it can be epilepsy. If someone has a seizure, there is not much you can do after it starts. But you can protect them from harming themselves while having a seizure. Log on to www.doralhw.org for a consultation.

Types of Seizures and their symptoms

There are two types of Seizures:

1. Focal onset seizures: This type of seizure starts on one part of the brain. You don’t lose your consciousness in this type of seizure. But you can’t control your actions and thoughts while having a seizure. After the seizure is over you will not remember a thing. The symptoms of focal onset seizures are:

• Change in the sense of taste, smell, sight, hearing, or touch
• dizziness
• tingling and twitching of limbs
• staring blankly at nothing
• unresponsiveness
• performing repetitive movements

2. Generalized seizures: This type of seizure involves distinct parts of the brain all at once. You lose consciousness in this type of seizure. This type of seizure is dangerous because it makes you unaware of your surroundings and can lead to injuries. This type of seizure has a further 6 subtypes:

• Absence Seizure: This type of seizure is also called petit mal seizures. It can cause a loss of awareness, staring at nothing, and perform some repetitive movements like lip-smacking, blinking, or moving arms or legs continuously.
• Tonic Seizure: This seizure can cause sudden stiffness in the muscles of the arms, legs, and trunk.
• Atonic Seizure: This seizure can cause loss of muscle control. This seizure is called a drop seizure because a sudden loss of your muscle can make you fall immediately.
• Clonic Seizure: This type of seizure can cause repeated jerky movements of muscles of the face, neck, and arms.
• Myoclonic Seizure: This type of seizure can cause uncontrolled twitching of arms and legs.
• Tonic-clonic Seizure: This type of seizure is also called grand mal seizure. Its symptoms are:
  • stiffening of the body
  • Shaking
  • loss of bladder or bowel control
  • biting of tongue
  • loss of consciousness

What to do in case of Seizure?

Although not all seizures require emergency medical attention, remember you can’t stop a seizure once it starts. You should try to keep the person safe until the seizure stops on its own. Most of the seizures stop in a few minutes. First aid treatment varies according to the type of seizure:

If a person has a mild seizure:

• Keep yourself calm.
• Check if they have a medical bracelet.
• Make sure the person is out of the way of any sharp objects or things that might harm them.
• Stay with the person until his/her seizure is over and he/she is fully awake.
• Once awake, tell them what happened and offer any assistance they might need (for example- help them get home safely).

If a person has a tonic-clonic seizure (which can cause uncontrollable shaking or jerking):

• Help to ease them on the ground.
• Turn them gently on their side to make breathing easy and prevent a choking hazard.
• Clear away any hard/sharp objects to prevent injury.
• Put something soft under their head.
• If they wear eyeglasses, remove them.
• Loosen tight clothes, especially around the neck and chest (that may give them a tough time breathing).
• If the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes call 911, or the local emergency number.

THINGS NOT TO DO

If someone is having a seizure, never:

• Hold them down.
• Try to stop the involuntary jerks/movements.
• Put anything in their mouth.
• Give them CPR or mouth-to-mouth breathing.
• Offer them food or water (until they feel fully alert).

Have any questions? Doral Health and Wellness has several urgent care clinics around New York that can cater to your family’s medical needs. We also have the best medical providers, physicians and staff that are highly trained in their respective specialties. To know more about the locations of our urgent care clinics, you can visit us at Doral Health and Wellness. If you are looking for urgent care near you, you can visit Doral Health and Wellness Urgent Care. We provide urgent care for common illnesses and injuries. Additionally, we also provide comprehensive care for any related injuries and health problems. We also offer other services, such as vaccinations, immunizations, and blood testing. For more info, visit us or call 1-347-384-5690.