What if you have a seizure alone?

But when you're alone, you may need to ask for help in other ways. Consider buying a commercial alarm device or subscribing to an emergency response service. This way, you may be able to call for help during a seizure. Many people experience worry over having a seizure while alone, especially one that causes injury.

Can you recover from a seizure alone?

Some people recover immediately while others may take minutes to hours to feel like their usual self. The type of seizure, as well as what part of the brain the seizure impacts, affects the recovery period – how long it may last and what may occur during it.

What happens if you randomly have a seizure?

Anything that interrupts the normal connections between nerve cells in the brain can cause a seizure. This includes a high fever, high or low blood sugar, alcohol or drug withdrawal, or a brain concussion. But when a person has 2 or more seizures with no known cause, this is diagnosed as epilepsy.

Can you survive a seizure without help?

But most seizures aren't an emergency. They stop on their own with no permanent ill effects. There are simple steps you can take to protect someone from harm during a seizure. It's worth knowing some basic first aid -- and when it's time to call 911.

What happens if a seizure goes untreated?

If seizures can't be stopped or repeated seizures occur one right after another, permanent injury or death can occur. People with epilepsy can also die from problems that occur during or after a seizure, such as inhaling vomit. This problem can be prevented if the person is turned onto one side as soon as possible.

Can people with epilepsy seizures live alone at home? (Tami Maier, epilepsy patient)

When should you go to the ER for a seizure?

Call 911 or seek emergency medical help for seizures if: A seizure lasts more than five minutes. Someone experiences a seizure for the first time. Person remains unconsciousness after a seizure ends.

Do seizures damage your brain?

Prolonged seizures are clearly capable of injuring the brain. Isolated, brief seizures are likely to cause negative changes in brain function and possibly loss of specific brain cells.

What are 4 signs of a seizure?

Symptoms of seizures include:

Temporary confusion. Uncontrollable jerking movements of the arms and legs. Stiffening of the body. Loss of consciousness or awareness.

How long can a seizure last before brain damage?

A seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, or having more than 1 seizure within a 5 minutes period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes is called status epilepticus. This is a medical emergency that may lead to permanent brain damage or death.

Is a seizure always serious?

Dangerous but treatable

There are serious risks to having an unchecked seizure disorder. Seizures can cause car crashes when they strike someone who's driving. They can cause people to fall and hit their head or suffer a serious injury, too. There are longer term dangers, too.

What triggers random seizures?

Missed medication, lack of sleep, stress, alcohol, and menstruation are some of the most common triggers, but there are many more. Flashing lights can cause seizures in some people, but it's much less frequent than you might imagine.

Can just anyone have a seizure?

Everyone can have seizures, but some people have medical conditions that make them happen more easily. Seizures are also more likely at certain ages. Children are more likely to have seizures and epilepsy, but many grow out of the condition.

Can you get a seizure from nothing?

Seizures that are not due to epilepsy are sometimes called 'non-epileptic seizures'. They can have a physical cause such as low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) or may be related to how the heart is working. Or they may have a psychological cause.

Should I go to the hospital after a seizure?

Once the seizure is over, Kadiwala recommends the patient be taken to the emergency room to rule out any serious medical problems. “Anyone who experiences their first seizure should be taken to the ER right away,” he explains. “The purpose of an ER visit is to rule out any immediate or life-threatening.

Should you sleep after a seizure?

Yes, let him sleep. When he has the seizure make sure he is on the floor where he will not injury himself. If he has been sick and has a lot of mucus make sure he is on his side so that the mucus and saliva does not choke him. Also time the seizure, anything over five minutes call the emt.

Does your brain go back to normal after a seizure?

The physical aftereffects of the seizure also set in. The length of this stage will depend on the type of seizure you had and the parts of your brain that were involved. Some people start to feel better very quickly. For others, it can be a few hours before they feel back to their normal selves.

Do seizures shorten your life span?

Reduction in life expectancy can be up to 2 years for people with a diagnosis of idiopathic/cryptogenic epilepsy, and the reduction can be up to 10 years in people with symptomatic epilepsy. Reductions in life expectancy are highest at the time of diagnosis and diminish with time.

What does a seizure feel like in your head?

You might also feel strange and experience tingling, anxiety, or déjà vu. If you lose consciousness during a seizure, you won't feel anything as it happens. But you might wake up feeling confused, tired, sore, or scared. Most seizures are not a medical emergency.

Can you have only one seizure in your life?

One in 10 people worldwide have a first seizure in their lifetime. According to The International League Against Epilepsy, epilepsy is defined as one or more seizures with a high likelihood of recurrence, not due to another immediately triggering cause, such as low blood sugar.

What happens right before a seizure?

An aura or warning is the first symptom of a seizure and is considered part of the seizure. Often the aura is an indescribable feeling. Other times it's easy to recognize and may be a change in feeling, sensation, thought, or behavior that is similar each time a seizure occurs.

How do you know a seizure is coming?

Aura (Late Warning Signs)

Unusual smells, tastes, sounds, or sensations. Nausea. A Déjà vu feeling (you feel like you are experiencing something that has occurred before) Intense fear and panic.

What does a mini seizure feel like?

A simple partial seizure can cause: a general strange feeling that's hard to describe. a "rising" feeling in your tummy – like the sensation in your stomach when on a fairground ride. a feeling that events have happened before (déjà vu)

Can a seizure cause death?

A seizure may cause a person to have pauses in breathing (apnea). If these pauses last too long, they can reduce the oxygen in the blood to a life-threatening level. In addition, during a convulsive seizure a person's airway sometimes may get covered or obstructed, leading to suffocation.

Can anxiety cause seizures?

While stress and anxiety are unlikely to trigger neurological seizures in people without epilepsy, they can trigger PNES in individuals with underlying mental health conditions. Since these episodes have a psychiatric origin, addressing the underlying stress and anxiety can help reduce or eliminate these episodes.

How long does it take to recover from a seizure?

Witnessing a person having a tonic-clonic seizure can be upsetting, but it's important to remember that most seizures resolve on their own after one to three minutes.