The definition of a seizure describes it as a sudden electrical surge in the brain. The definition goes onto to explain that a seizure will often make a person act oddly. It also states that many things can happen to someone who is having a seizure because of the many different types of seizures that can occur.

“You have grand mal seizures,” Angela Glass, a nurse at HPHS, said. “That’s when you’re going to see a person fall to the ground, clench their jaw, shake. Absent seizures… if you’re talking to a person and they have an absent seizure they look like they’re not paying attention, kind of like a blank stare off into space.”

Those two seizures are by no means the only type. Atonic seizures cause a person to go limp; tonic seizures cause a person’s muscles to suddenly go stiff. Despite how different the seizures are in appearance and length, they all share a commonality: odd neurological activity.

Odd neurological activity, however, can be triggered by many different things. The one that everyone knows is flickering lights, but a fever or stress can also set off a seizure. To help control these triggers, some people take daily medication.

At HPHS, for any medical issue, the nurses have an action plan for the individual students. This way the nurses can quickly know what to do. For example, if a student were to have an asthma attack, the student would have a document from their doctor explaining that the student needs to take a nebulizer treatment.

Seizures work the same way. The nurses have a list of the students who have seizures; those students each have an action plan from their doctors that give instructions. Some action plans call for 911 to be called immediately, and some call for 911 only after five minutes have passed.

Generally, when someone has a seizure, the best thing is to get them on their side. That way, if they vomit or have excessive drooling, they won’t choke. Someone should stay with the person while someone else gets help – if the seizure were to happen at school, then that would mean getting the nurses.  

Seizures are a medical issue that are scary to think about. The best thing anyone can do, at the end of the day, is just try and keep the person safe.