Seizures

Seizures can look scary, but most stop on their own within a few minutes. Your job is to keep the person safe until it ends.

What to do

1. Stay calm and stay with them. Note the time the seizure started.
2. Ease them to the floor if they’re standing or sitting and seem to be falling.
3. Clear the area of hard or sharp objects. Put something soft, like a folded jacket, under their head.
4. Turn them gently onto their side, with their mouth pointing toward the ground. This helps them breathe and keeps spit or vomit out of the airway.
5. Loosen anything tight around the neck, and remove eyeglasses.
6. Time the seizure. Call 911 if it lasts longer than 5 minutes.
7. Stay until they are fully awake. Afterward, they may be confused or sleepy. Speak calmly, tell them what happened, and help them get somewhere safe to rest.

If the person has a seizure action plan or rescue medicine prescribed by their doctor, follow that plan.

Avoid

• Don’t put anything in their mouth. People can’t swallow their tongue. Objects can break teeth or block the airway.
• Don’t hold them down or try to stop their movements.
• Don’t give food, drinks, or pills until they are fully awake.
• Don’t give rescue breaths during the seizure. Most people start breathing normally again on their own. If they aren’t breathing normally after the seizure ends, call 911 and start CPR.

Seizures with fever in children

Young children sometimes have seizures with a high fever. Follow the same steps. Fever medicine doesn’t stop or prevent these seizures. Call the child’s doctor afterward, and call 911 if it lasts more than 5 minutes or the child has trouble breathing.