First aid for a person having a convulsion

Dr. Dieu Ha Lam, Head of Emergency Department of Le Van Thinh Hospital (HCMC), said that convulsions have many causes such as infections (encephalitis, meningoencephalitis), traumatic brain injury, brain tumors, epilepsy. … In young children, a high fever can also cause convulsions.

Seizures usually last a few minutes, and are rarely repeated soon after. The patient may fall to the ground, roll his eyes, stiffen, foam at the mouth, etc., causing people around him to panic. However, the majority of seizures resolve on their own without special medical intervention.

According to Dr. Lam, when giving first aid to a person having a seizure, calm is the most important thing. “Calm down to handle each step, don’t make mistakes that waste time,” he said.

People who are having a seizure can still breathe on their own, so artificial respiration is not necessary. The most worrisome risk is aspiration, which can lead to death. Therefore, after the seizure has stopped, place the patient on his or her side, lower the head, and turn it to one side. If the patient is vomiting food, viscous sputum is also not aspirated, compressing the airway.

Dr. Lam said that he had seen a case of a patient who broke a part of his finger when giving first aid to someone who had an epileptic seizure. In the past, people with seizures could bite their tongue to death, so they often stuck their fingers, chopsticks or hard objects into the patient’s mouth.

However, Dr. Lam explained, when convulsing, the whole muscle contracts. The victim’s tongue is also slightly retracted, so it is unlikely that the patient will bite off the tongue. Sometimes, there may be a little bleeding from the lips, the inner lining of the cheeks because of the clenching of the teeth.

“Putting chopsticks and fingers into the mouth of a convulsive person is a mistake and causes time-consuming first aid. This action is also dangerous for the first aid person because the chewing force of the jaw is very strong, when having a convulsion, people use all their strength without control, possibly crushing part of their fingers!”, Dr. Lam warned.

In addition, if you put chopsticks, spoons or hard objects into your mouth, the patient can crush them, these pieces will fall into the airways, causing choking, life-threatening.

Another common mistake is squeezing lemons into your mouth for first aid. This is also useless because the person having a seizure usually goes away on its own after a few minutes. Whether squeezing a lemon or not, the convulsion will end, so it’s misleading. Therefore, Dr. Lam recommends that, when meeting a person having a seizure, first aid should be followed by the following steps:

– Stay calm, call for help.

– Do not gather around the sick person to create a ventilated space.

Help the patient lie down on a safe surface.

– Loosen clothes, remove potentially dangerous items, clean up the surrounding area, make sure the sick person is not near sharp, fragile objects.

– After convulsion, tilt the patient’s head to the side, remove vomit, mucus from the mouth, avoid aspiration.

Seizures usually end after a few minutes, but can occur continuously. At that time, quickly bring the patient to the hospital for a full examination and timely intervention.

Linh Giao

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