Seizures – How to Help

In my last post, I gave a brief overview of epilepsy (what it is and isn’t, how people get epilepsy and the types of seizures a person may have).

Today is all about what you can do to help if you see someone having a seizure.

I forget that seizures can be scary (probably because I’ve witnessed more seizures than I can count and am so used to them) but do realize they can be frightening for someone who has never seen one. Seizures usually happen without warning although there are some people who experience an aura before a seizure which gives them a brief moment to react (for example, sit down if they are standing).

Robert has experienced the aura before but it doesn’t happen with every seizure. He says when he was little he would see things in the colors “red, green and blue.” He also used to tell us he was able to see cartoons in his head. I think these must be a little boy’s descriptions of the aura before a seizure. Robert also tells me he can sometimes fight off the seizures if he feels one coming on. I’ve always wondered if this is actually true but I don’t doubt the power of the mind so can believe it.

There are a few things to keep in mind if you see someone having a seizure. First, you don’t have to do anything if the person is having an Absence Seizure (also known as Petit Mal and looks like a brief period of staring). Robert sometimes has these when we are playing cards and I just wait until it passes (his usually last 10 – 20 seconds). It’s a good opportunity to peek at his cards but I refrain from taking advantage!

Epilepsy: What is it and Can I Catch It?

Since Robert is doing his own educating about epilepsy, I was inspired to do a little educating about it too. 

First, the facts:

What is it?

Epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures (it’s also sometimes called a “seizure disorder”). Seizures are caused by an abnormal surge of electrical activity affecting all or just a part of the brain. If a person has two or more unprovoked seizures they are considered to have epilepsy. Epilepsy does not discriminate and affects all races, both sexes and is found in all countries.

Epilepsy is not a mental illness nor does it cause mental illness and epilepsy is not caused by demons (as was thought 3000 years ago).

Depending on the source, between 2 and 3 million people in the United States have epilepsy and, approximately, 50 million people worldwide have it (according to the World Health Organization). Epilepsy can be treated in approximately 70% of the cases (which means a person is seizure free for 5 or more years while on medication). 75% of those cases can eventually be taken off mediation. Ten percent of patients have uncontrolled epilepsy even with medication or other medical means such as surgery (this is the category Robert falls into).

How do you get it?

Don’t worry, you can’t catch it.

For 6 out of 10 people with epilepsy there is no known cause. For those 4 out of 10 other people, the cause could be a brain tumor, a blow to the head, loss of oxygen or trauma during birth or a stroke that deprives the brain of oxygen. High fevers in very young children can also cause a seizure.

We don’t know what caused Robert’s epilepsy but, according to our Mom, he didn’t have an easy birth. Mom broke her tailbone while in labor with Robert and the doctor had to use those barbaric clamps to pull him out (we’ll never know why they didn’t just do a C-Section since there were obviously some issues with him wanting to come out!). Finding out what caused Robert’s epilepsy is not really important to me. I’d rather concentrate on helping him now than looking backwards.

What if . . .

Now that we’ve made the decision to move Robert into our home, we have work to do! One contractor came to the house last week but he hasn’t sent me his quote yet (I’m anxious to get this moving along!). His ballpark figure was higher than I’d like but his specialty is plumbing which is what concerns me most. Robert needs a good shower with plenty of bars to hang on to as well as a built in seat (or at least room for a shower chair). He also needs a sturdy toilet since he’s kind of rough on them (and has broken one or two in the last few years).



The worse the "before" picture, the better the "after" picture


Hubby and his brothers erected a wall in the garage a few years back when we were using that space as an office but since we didn’t add heat or air, that concept didn’t last long and we now use it for storage. Embarrassing, messy storage of stuff accumulated over several years.

We do have help – hubby’s brother is a licensed electrician which is a pretty handy thing to have in the family! He already said he could do the electrical work which means dinner is on us for a very long time (somehow, though, the promise of a lifetime supply of veggie burgers probably doesn’t appeal to the man who single-handedly keeps Carl’s Jr. in business).

We also know a reputable air/heating guy (the husband of one of my co-workers) and I’d just as soon give him our business as some stranger the contractor drums up. We meet with him on Sunday (don’t worry, Jenn, we’ll pay him in actual money and not veggie burgers).

Good News and Better News

Here’s a news flash for you: Life doesn’t hand you one situation or problem at a time! Can you imagine how easy it would be if things worked that way? What would we do with all of our time if that happened? Many, many caregivers are either serial caregivers or caring for more than one person at a time. (According to a survey done by caregiving.com more than 26% of the respondents were currently caring for more than person at a time.).

Today, though, was a day for good news! Robert’s neurologist read his recent EEG results and said they were very similar to the results from a few years ago. Obviously, they’re not “normal” but they’re normal for him! So we know from the MRI Robert hasn’t had a stroke and we know from his EEG that his brain activity is stable. Woohoo!! This is really good news! The EEG and the MRI don’t explain why Robert’s memory and balance is worsening but I think we can safely assume that the seizures play a huge part in the decline and, in my very biased opinion, so does New Home. I can’t do anything about the seizures but we’re working on the problems with New Home by having Robert come live with us. I met with the contractor last night and so we are moving along with our garage conversion!

We found out even better news today, though, about my wonderful mother-in-law, Carol. She has been through a horrible time this past year: stroke, heart attack, speech and physical therapy, valvuloplasty, infection from the valvuloplasty and now bloody fluid on the lungs.

Uh oh.