How to Recognize and Respond to a Seizure

Witnessing a seizure for the first time is frightening — and for most bystanders, instinct may prompt actions that are actually harmful, while the most important responses are often counterintuitive. Understanding what seizures are, the different types, and what to do (and critically, what not to do) during a seizure is essential knowledge that can directly prevent harm.

WHAT IS A SEIZURE?

A seizure is a sudden, transient disruption of normal brain electrical activity — a "storm" of abnormal synchronized neuronal firing that causes involuntary changes in behavior, movement, sensation, consciousness, or cognition. Seizures are not a disease but a symptom — they can be caused by epilepsy (a chronic condition predisposing to recurrent seizures) or by a wide range of acute conditions in people without epilepsy.

Causes of provoked seizures (in people without epilepsy): Severe hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), hyponatremia (low sodium), high fever (febrile seizures in young children), alcohol withdrawal, drug overdose or toxicity, head trauma, stroke, meningitis/encephalitis, eclampsia (in pregnancy), and structural brain lesions.