What was I doing again?

[willowroot]

Now I know what someone having a seizure sounds and looks like.

It's also reassuring to know that all of my long-accumulated first aid training from my days in the scouts and with Red Cross refresher courses has not left my head.

I'm thankful that the "bystander effect" did not happen in this instance.

I hope for his sake that 'Chad' makes out alright.

Writing? What's that? I'm gonna go out for a walk...

Comments

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

It's not fun, is it? And damn, the things you can do are so limited and don't feel like really helping.

Was a guy in my Accounting classes in college whose seizures were triggered by stress, so every test day, he'd have one.

Yeah, that was certainly Not Fun.

[flinx.livejournal.com]

It's also amazing the effect of perceptual time-dilation. I don't think it was more than 30 seconds between when I first heard the guy in seizure (choking noises, banging against the wall) and when I got up, found him in his carrel down the hall, yelled for help, and got him upright. It felt like I took about 5 minutes, though.

I know that it happens, though, but I've never so clearly experienced it.

But once I got him laid out on the floor between the bookshelves, I had a distinct feeling of time snapping back into order.

Very weird.

And a daily seizure? Damn.

Re: Yeah, that was certainly Not Fun.

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Not daily, just every time there was a test. 2-3 times a quarter. At least in that class; now I think on't, I guess he'd probably be similarly susceptible in his other classes. So still "damn", yes.

[jadesfire55.livejournal.com]

Whoa. I don't have any of that kind of training so if that happened to me I'm afraid the best I could do would be to freeze up...and possibly also make loud, unhelpful exclamations. Eesh.

I hope he's ok.

And I hope you're ok too. I still wish I could come support you in two weeks.

[flinx.livejournal.com]

Only one person suggested that I splash water on his face, which I kindly turned down, as the suggester was also the one who'd called 911 (after also being worried by the sounds).

The EMTs didn't seem too worried, given that by the time they arrived, Chad was upright and conversant, although he was *completely* disoriented. Two of us also had him penned into a corner with an overstuffed chair to keep him from hurting himself any further--when he roused, he'd tried walking away from me down the hall, his legs failed, and he went face-first into a door jamb... *wince*

I'm okay, now that the adrenalin buzz wore off, and I've come back from the resultant crash. Thanks. :}

Thank you for helping. :)

[jenx.livejournal.com]

My birth mother would have grand mal seizures. At one of her neurological appointments, her doctor showed us a simulation of the electrical activity in the brain during a seizure - it was a total activation of almost every neuron, cascading across the brain. It's no wonder they're disoriented! Things settle down after about 30 minutes or so, but the person usually doesn't have any memory of the actual seizure.

My favorite of mom's seizures? The one where she was *driving*. Thank goodness I was in the passenger seat, and could help!

[quasievil-bunny.livejournal.com]

Not fun at all. An ex of mine has epilepsy, and I can still vividly recall his seizures.

[irish-horse.livejournal.com]

Scary - good for you for being there and helping. Not many people do.

my sister has epilepsy

[walkitout]

Hers is well-controlled with medication, but yeah, it's really, really weird stuff, even if it's just a petit mal, and grand mal is terrifying to be around. The good news, as everyone has probably told you repeatedly, is that as long as the person isn't driving or something similar, it will probably all turn out more or less okay, for suitable definitions of okay.