Seizures...

I think the old myth about swallowing the tongue has been covered and whether people are conscious when this is happening. Thank goodness for medications that control a lot of people who have seizures or we would see a lot more episodes than we do which I admit seem quite rare these days in my experience. The question is why would anyone fake a seizure?

I have seen 1000's seizures so far I am a disability worker and most of the clients I have worked with have them. Some can control the onset (as in flickering lights or been to hot or tired or upset) but they cant control the seizure simply because it comes from the brain.

my mom has them-she didn't use to,but a doctor gave her a medicine that causes permanent risk of them.they didn't fully explain the side effects to her. while i was out of town,she took a header into a glass table in my house during a seizure and came up with shards sticking in her body-my brother called the ambulance. needless to say,that table's gone bye bye.she wanted me to replace the glass,but i told her no way,i don't want a repeat of that,just in case. she has this other medication to control them,and for the most part it seems to be working.

My oldest son was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was 9 yrs. old. Luckily he grew out of them by the time he was 12 yrs. old. He could actually alert us by throwing something when one was coming on. He wasn't able to talk though at that time. We would help him to the floor and keep him from hurting himself. That is all you basically can do until they come out of it. Most epileptic people say they have no clue as to what is going on around them while in a seizure. My son however couldn't respond to us, but he could hear what we were saying and see everything we were doing. Noone has control over them, but most are on medication to help prevent them or at least to where they are not as severe.

i have never seen anyone have a seizure but i have had a mini seizure before.. i was going off a lot of medication (my doctor was over medicating me and stupid me thought i should quit 3 meds at ONCE) and i started having nightly seizures when it was time for dosing.. i would have one side of my face twitching for a few minutes uncontrollably and then some times it would be on parts of my body but not bad enough to where i didnt know where i was at or fell etc.. some people just fall quiet for a few minutes then just snap back to being talkative etc.. they cant control them to where they cant have them but they can like make sure they sit down or something if they think they are about to have them or something.. im not really sure.. mine stopped after a few days and there was no brain damage or anything and i have never had them again thank god.. it was all the medss

I have not ever had a seizure but I have seen people have them. My mom works in the medical field and she has seen many of them also. No, people do not have control at all while having one. My best friends mom had a brain tumor and it caused her to have seizures. My fiances sister has them also. I also have a friend that has them. It is a neurological disorder. If you ever saw a real seizure, you would know if it was real.

first of all i do not know anyone who fakes a seizure when people have seizures they have no control, it is like the brain short circuits, signs of a real seizure besides jerking around eyes rolled up into the back of the head, and tongue rolling or falling out of the mouth, the tongue can go backward causing chocking as well.

One night my neice woke me up to tell me her sister was acting funny when I got to her her eyes had rolled back in her head and she was stiff. I grabbed her and we took her to thehospital thats when we found out she had epilipcy. I had stuck my fingers in hre mouth so she wouldnt bite her tough man could she bite! Was clamped down on my fingers had to pry her mouth open to get tehm out. So dont do that it hurts! Any way seems like she has out grown them . Not easy to fake one specially if ya go threw a plate window!

When I was in college a classmate of mine had a grand mal seizure during class. There really was nothing we could do but to keep her comfortable and out of harm's way. She had the typical type that you would see on tv, etc. My ex sister in law had epilepsy since childhood for which she took medication. In the years I knew her she never had the "classic" seizure, but she did have what they call petite mal seizures occasionally. During those she might "go blank" or stare off to nowhere as if she was not responding. They only lasted a few seconds at a time. As far as I know people who have seizures, depending on what type they have may or may not be able to control them without medication.

A lady at church had a seizure once, that's really the only one I've ever seen. We held her on the pew so she didn't fall on the ground, one of the priests put his hand in her mouth - tho I hear that they won't swollow their tongues. I had never known she ever had a seizure before, never saw her have another. The former roomie and I drove her home and made sure she was all right before we went home.

i twoey...I am epileptic it can be frightening experience, when in my teens I hade a seizure at the top of the stairs and rolled down them I hit my head against a wall fracturing it and burst my lips plus my right ear was perforated when in hospital I was in a coma am not sure how long for and had amnesia when I came round..I have been dragged by a bus had a seizure in the road all sorts now thankfully all is under control...but it is a frightening illness...hugs littleowl

Hi twoey68, I have a friend who used to suffer from seizures but now she is on medication to control, and I have witnessed it but the best thing for anyone to do is makesure the person in a sfe enviorement and has a cushion or someone's coat behind the person's head and just leave them alone till it has passed, thy have no control of their body and you would know if someone is faking it, you cannot fake a seizure anyway. Tamara

Fake seizures? Do what the Emergency Services do and assume it's real. First Aid: Get things away from the patient. Holding them down could hurt them so it isn't advised unless they could put themselves in real danger by rolling.(falling off a vehicle or high place for example.) Guard the head - if you can hold their head still it helps but don't press the issue if they are moving to much you could injure the neck. Padding or a pillow is useful to minimize head injuries. EMS workers carry a bite stick to help maintain an airway and prevent jaw damage but even they don't use them unless the person is having repeated and violent convulsions. Avoid putting things in the patients mouth unless you are trained or instructed by someone who is trained. Seizures are extremely frightening to bystanders and to patients. People who have only recently started having them are especially frightened. Be there for them and comfort them as you can. Helping them relax can reduce the seizures. When first starting anti-seizure meds the patient can have more or rapidly repeating seizures until the dosage is set correctly. Call for EMS As Soon As Possible, especially when dealing with a patient who has been recently diagnosed. Even if you find out the person has been dealing with the problem for years and doesn't need EMS help it is better to be safe than sorry. The medics can deal with injuries incurred during the seizure and treat patients who go through repeated seizures. When the seizures come back to back and severe they may cause other problems including the inability to breath well. EMS workers know how to recognize these problems and have equipment designed to handle it without serious harm.

I know a few people who have seizures, as for controlling them, once a real one starts there really isn't much you can do,some people hold their hands together, some wrap their arms around their chest, but in most cases there is little they can do but ride it out. There are exceptions to the rule, but that is the most often cases, they just hold on and ride it out. I know at least two people who say that they have what they call auras before they have a seizure, kinda like some people get before a migraine. Basically something happens a flash of light behind the eyes, a distinct noise.. and they know to stop and get ready. But even they say that they don't always get that warning. As for fake seizures, I don't know much about it. But from what I know with the friends that I have with epilepsy the look in the eyes of a real seizure is hard to miss.

Hi. I had epilepsy as a kid, after my dad hit me over the head with a board when i was five years old. It tooks years to get over the epilepsy. The type of epilepsy i had was petite mal, where I was lights and images coming at me when i passed out. Sometimes i would ne passed out only a short time, other times i woiuld be passed out for a while. i can not really expaliin to you what it is like to have epilepsy. it would be like trying to tell a blind person what it is like to see.

My dog has seizures. They are not too wild or bad. I feel bad because there is nothing I can do to help her through the seizures. The vet told me that she can breathe even though it sounds like she is having trouble breathing. I have never seen other people have seizures. I have a seizure disorder. My seizures are peti-mal. They are so mild that most people are not aware of when I have a seizure. You witnessed a grand-mal seizure. Those types of seizures are more severe. To answer one of your questions: no, they do not have any control over the seizures. You need to understand that seizures are caused by a short circuit in the brain or a series of short circuits. The wrong signals are sent from the brain to the body. This causes the body to move without control.

I have a friend in New York that gets terrible seizures. I doubt she is ever faking them. The worst one I saw happened in my bathroom, when she was helping us remodel it. She fell, hit her head on the tub and had a really bad seizure, due to epilepsy. We were quite scared at the time, but it was over very shortly. If she takes her meds she lessens the number of seizures and the length of them. It doesn't stop them altogether. Whlie we worry about her, she lives her life as if...she doesn't think about having a seizure, nor does she let them interfere with her daily activities. She has 5 children, so she is a very busy woman. I remember when I was in High School (way back in the day) and we had a classmate that had epilepsy. One day, in study hall, he had a bad seizure. The teacher just sat at her desk, frozen, not knowing what to do. Fortunately, most of us students reacted, called the school nurse and took care of him. We were quite shocked that the teacher just sat there in shock! The next day she apologized to the class and the student that had the seizure. She said she just wasn't prepared for what had happened, but she will do better if there was a next time. PEACE Ginger

When I was in Missouri and with my friend and we went to her work. She's a caregiver and the person she took care of had a seizure and my friend had to hold her so she wouldn't hurt herself.

Hi ya twoey68 Once when I was about 10 I was on a bus with my older brothers and this young man started to have a seizure but we had no clue what was going on and we started to giggle though, not loudly, as we thought he was messing around. Then the bus pulled over. The driver got the man off the bus and soon after an ambulance arrived. We didn't giggle for long as we realised it was serious when the bus stopped. I don't think they can be controlled once the seizure has started but I think it is possible to stop it if you feel one coming on but I really don't know.

Having worked in a nursing home for some time, I had a resident that had seizures at times. She was on special medication and a special diet to help keep them under control, but inevitably, she would have them. When a person has as eizure, they really do not have control of how their body acts. They will not swallow their tongue, but they can bite off a finger if it is placed in their mouth. I am also a CPR and First Aid instructor, and we teach our studenbts that if a person is having a seizure, the best thing to do it to move anything out of the way that the person could be hurt on, place a pillow or something soft under their head if possible, and let them have their seizure. When it is over, the person will likely be very tired and ready to take a nap.