At what point should you turn someone onto his side?

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Starburst

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If someone has a tonic-clonic seizure, at what point should you turn him onto his side?

Should this be done during the seizure itself, or only after the seizure has stopped?

Does it matter whether it is the right or left side?

Thank you to anyone who may be able to help. My son (who is 20) has only had one tonic-clonic, but I would like to know this information in case he ever has another seizure of this type.
 
Starburst said:
If someone has a tonic-clonic seizure, at what point should you turn him onto his side?

Should this be done during the seizure itself, or only after the seizure has stopped?

Does it matter whether it is the right or left side?

Thank you to anyone who may be able to help. My son (who is 20) has only had one tonic-clonic, but I would like to know this information in case he ever has another seizure of this type.
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Please see the links for Seizure Training video released by the Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia to educate school nurses about epileptic seizures. They will be helpful in answering your questions.


Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMraErxbkqo

Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kmvw39gkmU

Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYsPgQ1dB-I

Part 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOk3VLCWWl4
 
Turn him as soon as you can.
Doesn't matter which side.
Put something soft like a pillow or jacket under his head.

Whatever you do, DON"T try to stick anything (spoons, fingers etc.) in his mouth. This will not help any and may make internal mouth injuries worse.

The biggest thing you can do for him is to stay calm and not freak out. Things are confusing enough when you are coming out of a seizure. He needs a calm re-assuring (but not smothering ) presence there as he is getting his head back on straight.
 
Epilepsy Action are using ACTION as an acronym to help people remember what to do when confronted with a Tonic Clonic seizure, and I always use it when I'm giving one of my presentations on living with epilepsy.
A ASSESS make sure the person isn't lying in a road or in a dangerous situation.
C CUSHION the person's head with a jacket or item of clothing.
T TIME Note how long the seizure lasts, but you should not wait longer than 5 mins
I IDENTITY Has the person any Medic Alert ID on.
O OVER Once the seizure is over, turn the person over onto their side into the Recovery Position, stay with them and reassure them as they come round.
N NEVER restrain the person, put something in their mouth, or give them anything to eat or drink.

Epilepsy Action are also saying that we should call Emergency if.....You know it is the person's first seizure. The seizure lasts for more than five minutes, one seizure follows another with no consciousness being regained in between by the person, the person is injured, or you believe the person needs urgent medical attention.
I agree with not calling emergency immediately, the public just panic and want us out of the way!! But, how many members of the public do you know who will remember the above let alone actually not panic and stick to it?!
I always say it, and always will, we have got to talk and keep talking to the public, because the majority haven't got a clue what to do!
 
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Elaine H said:
Epilepsy Action are using ACTION as an acronym to help people remember what to do when confronted with a Tonic Clonic seizure, and I always use it when I'm giving one of my presentations on living with epilepsy.
A ASSESS make sure the person isn't lying in a road or in a dangerous situation.
C CUSHION the person's head with a jacket or item of clothing.
T TIME Note how long the seizure lasts, but you should not wait longer than 5 mins
I IDENTITY Has the person any Medic Alert ID on.
O OVER Once the seizure is over, turn the person over onto their side into the Recovery Position, stay with them and reassure them as they come round.
N NEVER restrain the person, put something in their mouth, or give them anything to eat or drink.

Epilepsy Action are also saying that we should call Emergency if.....You know it is the person's first seizure. The seizure lasts for more than five minutes, one seizure follows another with no consciousness being regained in between by the person, the person is injured, or you believe the person needs urgent medical attention.
I agree with not calling emergency immediately, the public just panic and want us out of the way!! But, how many members of the public do you know who will remember the above let alone actually not panic and stick to it?!
I always say it, and always will, we have got to talk and keep talking to the public, because the majority haven't got a clue what to do!
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Good info here. We always turned Jon over to his side during the actual convulsions (to prevent aspiration), and I also used to grab a tissue to wipe his mouth if he bit his tongue.

One more thing, it is common during a tonic-clonic for a person's lips to turn blue (and maybe whole face), but color should return to normal within a couple minutes of the end of the seizure. If lips or extremities remain blue, then the person needs oxygen and it would be appropriate to call 911 (unless they have oxygen at hand).

This occasionally happened with Jonathan when he had multiple tonic seizures in a day, even when he was apparently returning to baseline in between.
 
Thank you to everyone for all the useful information. I have read articles which say to turn the person onto their side during the actual seizure, but I have also watched videos which show this being done once the person stops convulsing. I wasn't sure about the reason for the discrepancy, which is why I wanted to ask about it here.
 
C0urt said:
and no selfies
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I always wanted to know what I did during a seizure. My husband would describe it but I didn't really understand what he meant. When I had one that wasn't bad at all my husband video taped me with his phone. I was basically just doing stupid things, like try to put a pillow in a pillow case on my foot.

I'm not telling people to do this but it was actually very interesting to see me have a seizure.

The info that you've given here is great too!
 
Starburst said:
Thank you to everyone for all the useful information. I have read articles which say to turn the person onto their side during the actual seizure, but I have also watched videos which show this being done once the person stops convulsing. I wasn't sure about the reason for the discrepancy, which is why I wanted to ask about it here.
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Depending on the person and the seizure, sometimes the person is very rigid for a time. You should turn them as soon as you can but you should not force anything. So that may or may not mean waiting. I hope that clears it up.
 
Was in a volunteer kitchen once, and I wasn't ready for it because stress was still one of my triggers. And had an older lady next to me slip, fall, and hit her head on the counter while stirring flour and take the bowl with her. seizing and causing this cloud of flour.

The moment I heard a camera click and not someone call 911, I got angry and realized it was going to be one of those days. So I had to start get down into the mess with her and check on her and start pointing at people to dial 911. Then roll her on her side, and be sure she was ok. Then assign someone to her so I could step out side and quietly have a seizure on my own and cry for a moment.
 
The Recovery Position is used so that the person who has had the seizure and has produced excess saliva during it,will have a clear airway, I shouldn't think it's possible to put someone into this position during a full blown tonic clonic seizure, I'm lucky to have only have had a few of these in thirty years, I think school kids should be shown how to put people in this position.
 
It probably helps that everyone after being diagnosed with epilepsy get basic walk through how to deal with it, to share with others.

I have the benefit of being/loss and training of being a former life guard. My wallet got a lot thinner the moment I got diagnosed. I also run the risk of getting sued if I touch people and make the wrong call at this point because I should have known better. Laws suck people suck and people will sue for saving them wrong. Hot coffee burns still didnt say so on the cup.
 
Elaine H said:
The Recovery Position is used so that the person who has had the seizure and has produced excess saliva during it,will have a clear airway, I shouldn't think it's possible to put someone into this position during a full blown tonic clonic seizure, I'm lucky to have only have had a few of these in thirty years, I think school kids should be shown how to put people in this position.
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Well, in our case, Jonathan was less than 50 pounds when he had his last seizure, so it was fairly easy to move him. His tonic-clonics were usually at night, and he usually sleeps on his stomach (which I know isn't a good thing for a person with epilepsy), so I would move him to his side to give better air flow (of course, there isn't any airflow going on in the first part of the seizure, but I wanted optimal air flow once he was able to start breathing again). When Jonathan had tonics, they were often in the daytime, and he might be standing up or sitting at the time, so basically I would just put my arms around him and under his arms to catch him and lower him to the ground, as he would usually lose consciousness or at least just sort of crumple down. Haven't had to do any of that in a couple years, thank God.
 
Depending on the person and the seizure, sometimes the person is very rigid for a time. You should turn them as soon as you can but you should not force anything. So that may or may not mean waiting. I hope that clears it up.
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Thank you, AlohaBird. My son was, in fact, quite rigid during his seizure, and I don't think I would have been able to turn him onto his side.
 
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