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How to Help Someone Having A Seizure

How to Help Someone Having A Seizure

How to Help Someone Having A Seizure

We interrupt today’s normal Friday Fitness Check-In to discuss a scary situation that occured in my group fitness class yesterday.

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

I arrived at my normal thursday afternoon Zumba class and I took a position near the front. Usually I am a front row diva, but today all the spots were taken. We began following the instructor (who is also a mentor to me in the game) and during the fourth song I saw her facial expression change. She is usually super smiley and focused so when I saw her looking in the mirror towards the back of the room with concern I knew something was up.

By the time I looked around there was a woman lying on the floor shaking uncontrollably.

I didn’t know it right away but she was having a seizure.

Immediately two women ran over to her and put her on her side, she was still shaking uncontrollably and her eyes were closed.

I heard a lot of yelling but I couldn’t comprehend any of it. That’s when I ran to the music system and cut it off so we could get directions.

By that time someone had run upstairs to get help and almost all of us were trying to call 911 but because we were in the basement we had shotty service.

Finally, management came down and let us know that the paramedics were on their way. Since we were all standing around her helplessly they told us to go.

seizure

The seizure was timed by the nurse and it was around 4 and a half minutes. It took even longer before she could tell us her name and what day it was. She had no clue what happened.

Scariest part? This had never happened to her before. She has no history of seizures.

Seeing this happen made me super aware of how easily this could happen in my class, in any class, or even to someone sitting next to me on the train.

Having those skilled women in my class gave me a great first hand lesson on how to take proper care of a person having a seizure.

I did some research and found this graphic on how to handle a person who is having a seizure. If you don’t know it already burn it into your brain until you do. You never know when you will need this information and its better to be prepared than sorry.

epilepsy

This is also a really great reminder to make sure your in case of emergency contacts are listed in your phone by indicating (ICE) next to designated contacts. It’s really super important to be CPR certified as well.

Have you ever known someone with/witnessed a seizure? Do you know how to handle it?

Five Things to Consider when Becoming a Fitness Instructor – Brittany Bendall Fitness

Monday 22nd of May 2017

[…] For anything: A few months ago, I was a participant in a Zumba class when a woman behind me collapsed into a seizure. Thank goodness we had medical personnel in class with us to assist. If they hadn’t been […]

Five Things to Consider when Becoming a Fitness Instructor - My Own Balance

Sunday 29th of December 2013

[…] For anything: A few months ago, I was a participant in a Zumba class when a woman behind me collapsed into a seizure. Thank goodness we had medical personnel in class with us to assist. If they hadn’t been […]

KalleyC

Wednesday 11th of September 2013

How scary! So glad that the women in the class had experience, and knew what to do. Thank you for posting this, you can never tell when this will come in handy.

Nellie

Thursday 12th of September 2013

Yes, it was super intense. I am very thankful that we had experienced personnel on hand!

Hope

Monday 9th of September 2013

Awesome post Nellie. Seizures can be very scary. I pinned it to hopefully spread the word. People have a tendency to try to restrain someone during a seizure. Great reminder of what to and not to do. I've been around a couple of people at different times having a seizure. It's amazing that once you know what to do...in an emergency it all comes back. Unfortunately you can't do anything to stop the seizure, but you can make sure the person is alright during and after.

Way to go with cutting the music too. It seemed lots of people sprung into action... as I'm sure it was very scary for the person undergoing the seizure.

Nellie

Thursday 12th of September 2013

Right, exactly. I think most folks are trying to stop the seizure when really you just need it to work itself out.

Lashawn

Monday 9th of September 2013

GREAT advice. Seisures can be scary. Most people never remember them.

Nellie

Thursday 12th of September 2013

thats right! she had no idea what happened to her.