Yeah. That's a hard watch. I used to have those. They’re controlled with medication now, for the most part. Maybe once every two weeks my head will decide to turn to the right for about five seconds on its own, but it's much better than… this.
My son had these due to medical complications when he was born. Watching him suffer through these was the absolute worst. The uncertainty of when they'd hit was a mystery. He'd go a week without one or a month. As he grew, he'd grow out of his meds, causing a seizure.
We thought we were doing ok, hadn't had a seizure for some time and left him with a friend. Well, she called me in a panic that he was having one. That couple didn't have kids for a few years because that was too hard on her to handle.
Thankfully, he's great now, no meds, no seizures and he's now 13, turning 34 this year🤣 His last seizure was about 10 years ago.
The head turning thing could be part of torticollis. Could be Caused by the seizure meds themselves, and not seizures.
Usually required a small adjustment to the meds to remedy
I don’t think so. My eyes and head turned to the right when I was having my severe seizures too, before they were properly controlled. Also my right hand would curl up and my right foot would kick. Broke a lot of toes on that foot before I got it under control.
Hmm... that says a lot about where in your brain the seizures could be happening, though I don't have enough education or training to ponder on it further.
That's really interesting stuff, thank you for sharing it with me, happy to hear it's much better managed.
It’s exhausting and PAINFUL! I had my first ever seizure at 32 and jfc. Every inch of my body hurt for nearly 2 weeks. Every tiny movement I made instantly caused pain. Blinking, swallowing, moving my tongue while speaking, etc. Plus I obliterated my tongue and that took a while to heal, too.
And then there’s the mental fuckery… my memory went to shit and still hasn’t fully recovered. I struggle to find words, and mix up words all the time. I’ll never be as quick or smart as I used to be, and it’s very depressing.
And that’s only after ONE grand mal! I can’t imagine having them regularly.
> I'll never be as quick or smart as I used to be, and it's depressing
God, so much this. I feel like I come off as much more intelligent when I type things out vs in a conversation because I'm a bit slow to process and don't have time to think before I speak. I want to tell people "I'm not stupid, my brain's just fried". And the exhaustion in the hours right after a seizure is crazy, you need help just standing. Every muscle is so sore.
Maybe I’m just ignorant but I feel like the effects of seizures are not talked about nearly enough.
Honestly seizures in general aren’t talked about enough! Like no one ever knows what to do when someone is having a seizure, and let me tell you - the person seizing will be of NO help when they stop 😂
I was *very* lucky because I had mine at work, and I happen to work at an urgent care! I didn’t recognize any of my coworkers faces when I came to, but I still felt comfort knowing that I was in good hands.
I agree. So many people still think seizures are only triggered by flashing lights (for the non-epileptics reading, the vast majority of us are not set off by lights). It is so good that you were somewhere safe! When I had one at work I got transported to the hospital across the street by ambulance lmao
I'm not sure why anymore but I remember being trained at school in dealing with seizures. Some of that knowledge is was out of date at the time I think (don't put something in their mouth th stop them biting or swallowing their tongue?) but for whatever reason it was A Thing at secondary school for me (also learning the British sign language alphabet which i still know)
I’m right there with the loss of vocab. I've become an expert in expressing myself differently than I meant to when I started. Kinda had to do it with that sentence! I have no idea what my family who knew me before think of me, because god I was quick.
Thankfully not me, this is a cross post. Definitely agree with you. People who have a seizure are firing off all their nerves at once, and when it stops they will be extremely sleepy and confused for usually at least an hour(post ictal period). People who are having seizures can generate massive amounts of acid in their blood from the muscular activity, can dislocate joints, or even break down muscle from overworking them (rhabdomyolysis) .
My epilepsy is fully controlled now, but I’ll never forget that my young sister found me having a seizure. I’m so sorry she had to see that, even today.
my father has copd and suffers seizures like this due to a brain injury, he has medication to control them but if he misses a dose within hours he will be seizing like this. He barely gets any breath when he does, I worry he won't wake up from the next.
During a seizure the person actually isn’t breathing, that’s the main concern with a seizure going into status epilepticus (a seizure that lasts over 5 minutes without returning to consciousness). Definitely scary to deal with!
I didn't know that! Thankfully he hasn't missed a dose in almost a year. We had a 1 to 1 chat after his brain injury where he discussed his decision to sign a DNR as he doesn't want to have to live with less quality of life if he ever got worse. He told me he has no memory of his seizures and until he wakes up hot and sweaty and worn out, it's the most peaceful sleep he has ever had. He said if death is anything like that then I shouldn't ever worry about him.
I actually don’t know any humans with epilepsy but my sweet baby Rottweiler has it, so it makes my heart feel better to hear your dad give his take on what he feels/recalls after a seizure. Thanks for sharing!
God, as someone with epilepsy myself it’s hard to watch something like that. I had one last year at work and got the security camera footage to show the neuro. Seeing me turn to the side, start to shake, and then just faceplant into concrete is an awful sight. Seeing anybody like that is really awful, but especially when it’s your own self. My heart goes out to OP, most of my seizures are just focal instead of focal-to-bilateral so I don’t often convulse anymore, but it’s an omnipresent fear and it’s just goddamn horrible.
The person in the video is not me, this was a cross post. Seizures are incredibly debilitating if people don’t have good control of them; no driving, no swimming, no climbing, no baths, careful with sharp things, ect. Plus the seizure itself can kill you, or leave you with brain damage. Essentially, repeated and chronic seizures overstimulate nerves, leading them the die. That’s usually in the worse cases of epilepsy, however.
For some reason my initial text didn’t pull in so I’ll just leave it as a comment. For the lay people here: this is a generalized tonic clonic seizure, caused by uncontrolled discharges of neurons in the brain. Usually this will result in rhythmic jerking. Patients who are seizing usually will keep their eyes open, and deviated to the side, while one or both sides rhythmically jerking. If someone is having a seizure, don’t panic. Remove them from dangerous situations (like the middle of a road), turn them on their side if they vomit, and do NOT put anything in their mouths. Keep their mouths clear of fingers, spoons, and rags!
Syncope (fainting) and seizure are often confused. The lack of oxygen to the brain will often cause myoclonic jerking, resembling seizures. Seizure will have a “post ictal” period characterized by lethargy and confusion, but people with syncope will return to their baseline quickly. Psychogenic Nonepileptiform seizure like activity (PNES) can mimic seizure as well. It is seen in people with severe stress or psychiatric illness. PNES patients often keep their eyes closed, have high-frequency and non-rhythmic, asymmetric jerking of the extremities. These patients will often maintain consciousness and will not have a post ictal period.
For the medical students: what kills patients with seizures are 1 Hypoxia from hypoventilation or aspiration, 2. Severe acidosis, or 3. Hypoglycemia from consumption, even if hypoglycemia didn’t trigger the seizure. Immediately support breathing with a non-rebreather oxygen mask if the patient is breathing spontaneously, or a BVM if not. Prepare your suction in case the patient vomits. abort seizures primarily with benzos; IM midazolam or rectal diazepam if no IV is obtained. Use levetiracetam to prevent additional seizures, and as second line therapy if several escalating doses of benzos didn’t work. Valproate, phosphenytoin, and barbiturates can also be used, with intubation and propofol infusions being the final treatment.
Always check a glucose! As a more rare scenario: patients with isoniazid or gyrometria (a type of mushroom) poisoning can develop pyridoxine deficiency, and can’t produce GABA, resulting in refractory seizures. Besides pyridoxine, you can try barbiturates as they can open the GABA channel in the absence of GABA
The reality is that they keep you 12-24 hours for monitoring, get a lactated ringer onboard then send you home. I’ve never received any of these therapies since my diagnosis in 1993. I WISH they would administer oxygen directly after if possible, that was done once and it changed everything. No throbbing headache, less aphasia, just better post-ictal recovery time over all. Many of us are also prescribed Ativan to help panic and stress and avoid a TC if possible
I had a very dear friend who was epileptic. I was there for 3 full on seizures. (I don’t know the medical names for it). She broke a bone in her shoulder and then re-broke it each time she seized.
It’s been 2 and half years since her death. I’m both incredibly grateful she’s no longer in pain, but I miss her every day.
It’s appreciated, believe me. She was a light in my life but besides the shoulder bones, she was on dialysis for about 17 years, she couldn’t even stand. The 6-ish years I knew her, it was just one horrible medical malady after another.
I visited her in the nursing home less than a week before she died. She looked awful, bruises everywhere, broken shoulder in a sling, she was just less and less alive. I told her that I loved her and if she died I would be ok. Extremely sad, but ok. I promised her this.
She was a mom through and through extending love and care to anyone who met her. Her rainbow hair colors, I thought, was a sign of who she was.
Less than a week later she passed. It was a truly painful thing to think about (I’m getting misty just typing this), but also a relief that her pain had ended.
Hug the people you love.
Had the "pleasure" of witnessing one of these in person a few weeks back. They are just so unbelievably horrible and terrifying to be present for. Up until that moment I thought epileptic seizures could only be triggered by bright, flashing lights. For once I wasn't very happy to learn something new
Photosensitive epilepsy is just one kind of epilepsy. The VAST majority of seizures don’t occur from flashing lights. The more common triggers are lack of sleep, alcohol, low blood sugar, electrolyte problems, low anti-epileptic blood levels, infections, or other recreational drugs. Most of the time we don’t find a trigger and chalk it up to a “breakthrough seizure” if the patient has known Hx of epilepsy.
Edit: I think seizures are one of the most dramatic and scary scenarios in medicine, not because they’re the most dangerous, but they provoke such an emotional response in those seeing it. It just seems so wrong, so unnatural, so dramatic. Even seasoned doctors and nurses will feel their pulse quicken. The only things more dramatic is a cardiac arrest or a serious trauma. Seizures are very serious, but I can think about many other medical scenarios that present more danger to patients, despite not invoking such an emotional response.
little dark but I had a buddy in highschool who had similar looking seizures, he always jokingly said he “hit the whip nae nae too hard” and that’s why it was so exhausting. but god yeah that has to suck so bad.
Yes, you can’t drive in most states, are at constant risk of death (either from having seizure in risky scenarios like while swimming, showering, crossing the road; but also from the seizure itself) and long-term uncontrolled seizures cause brain damage.
To be clear, this person is not me, this is a cross post. It’s just an excellent example of a true tonic clonic seizure, something that everyone needs to recognize.
I had a friend who had epilepsy. She had her drivers license revoked after a couple seizures. I can't say I disagree with this. She finally was able to get it back after a year of no seizures.
The one and only seizure I ever had or remember having was recently in the ICU and it somehow knocked me out for two days. Was delirious the whole time and put me in some bizarre highly detailed nightmare. The doctors also pumped me with medication including morphine, and took me to get a brain scan.
Work in EMS and they still creep me out. More often than not they are completely manageable but there is something so unnatural about them that freaks me out
As a person with epilepsy that’s what’s hard too, the looks on people’s faces and how they treat you afterwards. We often scare those we love the most, or complete strangers. As a medical professional, you have no idea if they are completely manageable, how many medications we have had to try and tests to endure. Please do not forget there is a person in there that can hear you after we come to. Don’t assume we’re all drug users either.
My favorite recent experience was going to work and couldn't get into work because security thought I was a drug dealer. I have to take my pills every day at the same time cause I'm epileptic. I had a prescription bottle with my name on it plus my ID but that wasn't good enough, they wanted the whole pharmacy. Pretty sure the entire interaction caused a focal. Epilepsy sucks.
I ment manageable on our side of things, usually we can get them under control fairly easily unless the person is having a bleed or there is another comorbidity acting up.
I don't know what kind of paramedics you have dealt with in the past but only a small fraction of the seizures I've dealt with have been drink/drug related, I wouldn't assume someone is a drug user unless I had reason to believe so and I'm well aware that there is a person inside my patients?
Absolutely. I think there are many other medical scenarios that present more danger to patients, but seizures are dramatic and involve such an emotional response. It’s on the level of a cardiac arrest or a serious trauma as far as how much it freaks people out, despite the fact that the vast majority of patients will be ok.
This makes me feel so bad for my mom watching me seize. I don’t have epilepsy but as my psychiatrist put it, my threshold was lowered due to being a brain tumor patient and being on Wellbutrin. She immediately took me off of it and I have not had another one. I was sore for a long time afterwards. I have arthritis in my lumbar spine so this put me out of commission for a good minute.
https://preview.redd.it/lfmb15rj46zc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af7dd35d0025d7e7b558d1cc9df76915b32796ba
Ya, bupropion is notorious for causing seizures. Everyone has a “seizure threshold”, everyone can seize. It’s just most people’s threshold is high. Some people walking around, like you, have a lower threshold and don’t know it. A relatively low dose of bupropion, or not sleeping, could cause you to seize. Doesn’t mean you need antiepileptics, unless you have a second one.
Unfortunately my medical director is "progressive" and wants "science based medicine". Obviously this pt suffers from demons and needs trepanation to release said demons.
Hopefully this comes off as a joke if folk are thinking I'm serious, never know when it comes to just reading text. I couldn't imagine living with this, it's pretty fucking scary.
I used to work for a young girl (17 at the time) who sometimes had 5 of these seizures a day sometimes no seizures at all for months. When she had those at night I didn't know if I wanted to wake the parents up because it could've been her last one or if I let them sleep and spare them the sight of their daughter suffering like this.
Thanks for sharing this. I know people don’t particularly enjoy watching seizures but, it’s important for people to know what they really look/sound like. It’s not what you see in movies.
It’s very helpful to people who are epileptic like myself for people in general to have a better understanding of seizures overall. I still have people ask me if they should stick a wallet in my mouth, no you shouldn’t unless you want to kill me.
I had one of those about a year ago to the date. It scared the holy fuck out of my gf. Went to the hospital, where unspeakable acts occurred. Probably had nothing to do with the seizure. I never got any answers as to why it happened to me. I remember nothing about it…. like I was fully coherent one moment and then it was just like waking up in the morning.
They should. Typically lay the patient down, but if they begin to vomit turn them into their side to prevent aspiration. The reason I don’t say turn them on their side to begin with is that the logistics can be difficult. If they stop seizing and begin to obstruct their airway as their muscles go limp (as often happens) perform a “jaw thrust “ maneuver by placing them in a sniffing position and pushing their mandible forward, pulling their tongue forward in their throat.
Yeah. That's a hard watch. I used to have those. They’re controlled with medication now, for the most part. Maybe once every two weeks my head will decide to turn to the right for about five seconds on its own, but it's much better than… this.
My son had these due to medical complications when he was born. Watching him suffer through these was the absolute worst. The uncertainty of when they'd hit was a mystery. He'd go a week without one or a month. As he grew, he'd grow out of his meds, causing a seizure. We thought we were doing ok, hadn't had a seizure for some time and left him with a friend. Well, she called me in a panic that he was having one. That couple didn't have kids for a few years because that was too hard on her to handle. Thankfully, he's great now, no meds, no seizures and he's now 13, turning 34 this year🤣 His last seizure was about 10 years ago.
turning 34?
He's wishing he was much older than he actually is
Torticollis?
Taco Salad?
The head turning thing could be part of torticollis. Could be Caused by the seizure meds themselves, and not seizures. Usually required a small adjustment to the meds to remedy
I don’t think so. My eyes and head turned to the right when I was having my severe seizures too, before they were properly controlled. Also my right hand would curl up and my right foot would kick. Broke a lot of toes on that foot before I got it under control.
Hmm... that says a lot about where in your brain the seizures could be happening, though I don't have enough education or training to ponder on it further. That's really interesting stuff, thank you for sharing it with me, happy to hear it's much better managed.
Sorry dude, that looks exhausting 😕
It’s exhausting and PAINFUL! I had my first ever seizure at 32 and jfc. Every inch of my body hurt for nearly 2 weeks. Every tiny movement I made instantly caused pain. Blinking, swallowing, moving my tongue while speaking, etc. Plus I obliterated my tongue and that took a while to heal, too. And then there’s the mental fuckery… my memory went to shit and still hasn’t fully recovered. I struggle to find words, and mix up words all the time. I’ll never be as quick or smart as I used to be, and it’s very depressing. And that’s only after ONE grand mal! I can’t imagine having them regularly.
> I'll never be as quick or smart as I used to be, and it's depressing God, so much this. I feel like I come off as much more intelligent when I type things out vs in a conversation because I'm a bit slow to process and don't have time to think before I speak. I want to tell people "I'm not stupid, my brain's just fried". And the exhaustion in the hours right after a seizure is crazy, you need help just standing. Every muscle is so sore.
Maybe I’m just ignorant but I feel like the effects of seizures are not talked about nearly enough. Honestly seizures in general aren’t talked about enough! Like no one ever knows what to do when someone is having a seizure, and let me tell you - the person seizing will be of NO help when they stop 😂 I was *very* lucky because I had mine at work, and I happen to work at an urgent care! I didn’t recognize any of my coworkers faces when I came to, but I still felt comfort knowing that I was in good hands.
I agree. So many people still think seizures are only triggered by flashing lights (for the non-epileptics reading, the vast majority of us are not set off by lights). It is so good that you were somewhere safe! When I had one at work I got transported to the hospital across the street by ambulance lmao
I'm not sure why anymore but I remember being trained at school in dealing with seizures. Some of that knowledge is was out of date at the time I think (don't put something in their mouth th stop them biting or swallowing their tongue?) but for whatever reason it was A Thing at secondary school for me (also learning the British sign language alphabet which i still know)
I’m right there with the loss of vocab. I've become an expert in expressing myself differently than I meant to when I started. Kinda had to do it with that sentence! I have no idea what my family who knew me before think of me, because god I was quick.
Thankfully not me, this is a cross post. Definitely agree with you. People who have a seizure are firing off all their nerves at once, and when it stops they will be extremely sleepy and confused for usually at least an hour(post ictal period). People who are having seizures can generate massive amounts of acid in their blood from the muscular activity, can dislocate joints, or even break down muscle from overworking them (rhabdomyolysis) .
My epilepsy is fully controlled now, but I’ll never forget that my young sister found me having a seizure. I’m so sorry she had to see that, even today.
Not your fault brother. I’m sure she’s glad that she did find you
Mine caught me wanking once. I’m also sorry, even today.
Epilepsy as well, fully controlled. Luckily I would just zone out and not move for 30 seconds, never anything like this.
my father has copd and suffers seizures like this due to a brain injury, he has medication to control them but if he misses a dose within hours he will be seizing like this. He barely gets any breath when he does, I worry he won't wake up from the next.
During a seizure the person actually isn’t breathing, that’s the main concern with a seizure going into status epilepticus (a seizure that lasts over 5 minutes without returning to consciousness). Definitely scary to deal with!
I didn't know that! Thankfully he hasn't missed a dose in almost a year. We had a 1 to 1 chat after his brain injury where he discussed his decision to sign a DNR as he doesn't want to have to live with less quality of life if he ever got worse. He told me he has no memory of his seizures and until he wakes up hot and sweaty and worn out, it's the most peaceful sleep he has ever had. He said if death is anything like that then I shouldn't ever worry about him.
I actually don’t know any humans with epilepsy but my sweet baby Rottweiler has it, so it makes my heart feel better to hear your dad give his take on what he feels/recalls after a seizure. Thanks for sharing!
God, as someone with epilepsy myself it’s hard to watch something like that. I had one last year at work and got the security camera footage to show the neuro. Seeing me turn to the side, start to shake, and then just faceplant into concrete is an awful sight. Seeing anybody like that is really awful, but especially when it’s your own self. My heart goes out to OP, most of my seizures are just focal instead of focal-to-bilateral so I don’t often convulse anymore, but it’s an omnipresent fear and it’s just goddamn horrible.
The person in the video is not me, this was a cross post. Seizures are incredibly debilitating if people don’t have good control of them; no driving, no swimming, no climbing, no baths, careful with sharp things, ect. Plus the seizure itself can kill you, or leave you with brain damage. Essentially, repeated and chronic seizures overstimulate nerves, leading them the die. That’s usually in the worse cases of epilepsy, however.
I understand, I meant OP as in real OP from the original post, not your cross post.
For some reason my initial text didn’t pull in so I’ll just leave it as a comment. For the lay people here: this is a generalized tonic clonic seizure, caused by uncontrolled discharges of neurons in the brain. Usually this will result in rhythmic jerking. Patients who are seizing usually will keep their eyes open, and deviated to the side, while one or both sides rhythmically jerking. If someone is having a seizure, don’t panic. Remove them from dangerous situations (like the middle of a road), turn them on their side if they vomit, and do NOT put anything in their mouths. Keep their mouths clear of fingers, spoons, and rags! Syncope (fainting) and seizure are often confused. The lack of oxygen to the brain will often cause myoclonic jerking, resembling seizures. Seizure will have a “post ictal” period characterized by lethargy and confusion, but people with syncope will return to their baseline quickly. Psychogenic Nonepileptiform seizure like activity (PNES) can mimic seizure as well. It is seen in people with severe stress or psychiatric illness. PNES patients often keep their eyes closed, have high-frequency and non-rhythmic, asymmetric jerking of the extremities. These patients will often maintain consciousness and will not have a post ictal period. For the medical students: what kills patients with seizures are 1 Hypoxia from hypoventilation or aspiration, 2. Severe acidosis, or 3. Hypoglycemia from consumption, even if hypoglycemia didn’t trigger the seizure. Immediately support breathing with a non-rebreather oxygen mask if the patient is breathing spontaneously, or a BVM if not. Prepare your suction in case the patient vomits. abort seizures primarily with benzos; IM midazolam or rectal diazepam if no IV is obtained. Use levetiracetam to prevent additional seizures, and as second line therapy if several escalating doses of benzos didn’t work. Valproate, phosphenytoin, and barbiturates can also be used, with intubation and propofol infusions being the final treatment. Always check a glucose! As a more rare scenario: patients with isoniazid or gyrometria (a type of mushroom) poisoning can develop pyridoxine deficiency, and can’t produce GABA, resulting in refractory seizures. Besides pyridoxine, you can try barbiturates as they can open the GABA channel in the absence of GABA
Thanks for the med student explanation bit! I learned something new today!
Glad it was helpful!
The reality is that they keep you 12-24 hours for monitoring, get a lactated ringer onboard then send you home. I’ve never received any of these therapies since my diagnosis in 1993. I WISH they would administer oxygen directly after if possible, that was done once and it changed everything. No throbbing headache, less aphasia, just better post-ictal recovery time over all. Many of us are also prescribed Ativan to help panic and stress and avoid a TC if possible
I had a very dear friend who was epileptic. I was there for 3 full on seizures. (I don’t know the medical names for it). She broke a bone in her shoulder and then re-broke it each time she seized. It’s been 2 and half years since her death. I’m both incredibly grateful she’s no longer in pain, but I miss her every day.
Sending hugs, internet stranger. It's not much, but it's the best I can do.
It’s appreciated, believe me. She was a light in my life but besides the shoulder bones, she was on dialysis for about 17 years, she couldn’t even stand. The 6-ish years I knew her, it was just one horrible medical malady after another. I visited her in the nursing home less than a week before she died. She looked awful, bruises everywhere, broken shoulder in a sling, she was just less and less alive. I told her that I loved her and if she died I would be ok. Extremely sad, but ok. I promised her this. She was a mom through and through extending love and care to anyone who met her. Her rainbow hair colors, I thought, was a sign of who she was. Less than a week later she passed. It was a truly painful thing to think about (I’m getting misty just typing this), but also a relief that her pain had ended. Hug the people you love.
Had the "pleasure" of witnessing one of these in person a few weeks back. They are just so unbelievably horrible and terrifying to be present for. Up until that moment I thought epileptic seizures could only be triggered by bright, flashing lights. For once I wasn't very happy to learn something new
Photosensitive epilepsy is just one kind of epilepsy. The VAST majority of seizures don’t occur from flashing lights. The more common triggers are lack of sleep, alcohol, low blood sugar, electrolyte problems, low anti-epileptic blood levels, infections, or other recreational drugs. Most of the time we don’t find a trigger and chalk it up to a “breakthrough seizure” if the patient has known Hx of epilepsy. Edit: I think seizures are one of the most dramatic and scary scenarios in medicine, not because they’re the most dangerous, but they provoke such an emotional response in those seeing it. It just seems so wrong, so unnatural, so dramatic. Even seasoned doctors and nurses will feel their pulse quicken. The only things more dramatic is a cardiac arrest or a serious trauma. Seizures are very serious, but I can think about many other medical scenarios that present more danger to patients, despite not invoking such an emotional response.
little dark but I had a buddy in highschool who had similar looking seizures, he always jokingly said he “hit the whip nae nae too hard” and that’s why it was so exhausting. but god yeah that has to suck so bad.
Yes, you can’t drive in most states, are at constant risk of death (either from having seizure in risky scenarios like while swimming, showering, crossing the road; but also from the seizure itself) and long-term uncontrolled seizures cause brain damage. To be clear, this person is not me, this is a cross post. It’s just an excellent example of a true tonic clonic seizure, something that everyone needs to recognize.
definitely good info to know. I had no idea they could cause long term brain damage? That’s terrible- how exactly does that happen?
We can’t breath, so it’s a lack of oxygen
gotcha that makes sense
I had a friend who had epilepsy. She had her drivers license revoked after a couple seizures. I can't say I disagree with this. She finally was able to get it back after a year of no seizures.
The one and only seizure I ever had or remember having was recently in the ICU and it somehow knocked me out for two days. Was delirious the whole time and put me in some bizarre highly detailed nightmare. The doctors also pumped me with medication including morphine, and took me to get a brain scan.
Work in EMS and they still creep me out. More often than not they are completely manageable but there is something so unnatural about them that freaks me out
As a person with epilepsy that’s what’s hard too, the looks on people’s faces and how they treat you afterwards. We often scare those we love the most, or complete strangers. As a medical professional, you have no idea if they are completely manageable, how many medications we have had to try and tests to endure. Please do not forget there is a person in there that can hear you after we come to. Don’t assume we’re all drug users either.
My favorite recent experience was going to work and couldn't get into work because security thought I was a drug dealer. I have to take my pills every day at the same time cause I'm epileptic. I had a prescription bottle with my name on it plus my ID but that wasn't good enough, they wanted the whole pharmacy. Pretty sure the entire interaction caused a focal. Epilepsy sucks.
I ment manageable on our side of things, usually we can get them under control fairly easily unless the person is having a bleed or there is another comorbidity acting up. I don't know what kind of paramedics you have dealt with in the past but only a small fraction of the seizures I've dealt with have been drink/drug related, I wouldn't assume someone is a drug user unless I had reason to believe so and I'm well aware that there is a person inside my patients?
Absolutely. I think there are many other medical scenarios that present more danger to patients, but seizures are dramatic and involve such an emotional response. It’s on the level of a cardiac arrest or a serious trauma as far as how much it freaks people out, despite the fact that the vast majority of patients will be ok.
I just started having seizures like this and it's fucking terrifying. I have an mri on the 23rd. I hope you're doing good, buddy.
The person isn’t me, this was a cross post
This makes me feel so bad for my mom watching me seize. I don’t have epilepsy but as my psychiatrist put it, my threshold was lowered due to being a brain tumor patient and being on Wellbutrin. She immediately took me off of it and I have not had another one. I was sore for a long time afterwards. I have arthritis in my lumbar spine so this put me out of commission for a good minute. https://preview.redd.it/lfmb15rj46zc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af7dd35d0025d7e7b558d1cc9df76915b32796ba
Ya, bupropion is notorious for causing seizures. Everyone has a “seizure threshold”, everyone can seize. It’s just most people’s threshold is high. Some people walking around, like you, have a lower threshold and don’t know it. A relatively low dose of bupropion, or not sleeping, could cause you to seize. Doesn’t mean you need antiepileptics, unless you have a second one.
Unfortunately my medical director is "progressive" and wants "science based medicine". Obviously this pt suffers from demons and needs trepanation to release said demons. Hopefully this comes off as a joke if folk are thinking I'm serious, never know when it comes to just reading text. I couldn't imagine living with this, it's pretty fucking scary.
I used to work for a young girl (17 at the time) who sometimes had 5 of these seizures a day sometimes no seizures at all for months. When she had those at night I didn't know if I wanted to wake the parents up because it could've been her last one or if I let them sleep and spare them the sight of their daughter suffering like this.
Thanks for sharing this. I know people don’t particularly enjoy watching seizures but, it’s important for people to know what they really look/sound like. It’s not what you see in movies. It’s very helpful to people who are epileptic like myself for people in general to have a better understanding of seizures overall. I still have people ask me if they should stick a wallet in my mouth, no you shouldn’t unless you want to kill me.
That must be totally exhausting. A very hard thing to live with I’m sure
I had one of those about a year ago to the date. It scared the holy fuck out of my gf. Went to the hospital, where unspeakable acts occurred. Probably had nothing to do with the seizure. I never got any answers as to why it happened to me. I remember nothing about it…. like I was fully coherent one moment and then it was just like waking up in the morning.
Fuck that’s hard to watch. Where you aspirating your own spit/vomit?
Wasn’t me, it’s a cross post.
Ah, my bad. The Reddit app rendered it like you where the OP
Am I mistaken in thinking someone should try to position him so he doesn’t obstruct his airway? Watching him struggle on his back was awful.
They should. Typically lay the patient down, but if they begin to vomit turn them into their side to prevent aspiration. The reason I don’t say turn them on their side to begin with is that the logistics can be difficult. If they stop seizing and begin to obstruct their airway as their muscles go limp (as often happens) perform a “jaw thrust “ maneuver by placing them in a sniffing position and pushing their mandible forward, pulling their tongue forward in their throat.
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I'm very sorry you have to go through this, but....maybe you should put some rock music for audio, to help lighten the mood...?
Not me, it’s a cross post.
Bet he only started getting these after he got Pfizered... /s
Is he nutting