Witnessed a seizure today
Discussion
Was heading to a supermarket in the car when my wife said 'he's having a fit'. Looked to the left and a bloke was collapsing against a fence. Wife stopped the car and I got out and legged it over to the bloke.
It was quite scary.
He looked like a zombie out of a film. He was staring at me and his eyes were literally popping out of his head. He was shaking violently. It was like the fence he had collapsed against was electrifying him.
I gave him space, made sure he couldn't hurt himself and let him get on with it. After a few minutes he huddled up on the floor with his head between his legs and he began breathing really deeply and slowly.
I called an ambulance and went through the motions. Despite telling the ambulance person I didn't know him at all, she started asking me questions about his medical history! She wasn't very good, but that's for another thread.
Over the next ten minutes he began to come around. He stunk of alcohol, but I don't know if he had been drinking or collapsed on a bottle that someone had left near the fence.
My wife came over with our daughter and we stayed with him and tried to find out some details about him. Initially, I we were giving him space, but when he tried to stand up and he nearly fell over, we tried to steady him.
After what seemed like an eternity (another 10 minutes), the ambulance arrived and they took over. The chap was on his feet trying to find something in his bag at that point. We left and let the crew do their job.
About half an hour later we left the supermarket and passed the ambulance. We went back and asked how the chap was. The crew said he had gone. Everything checked out and he wanted to leave.
I'm sat here now hoping he is ok. I've got the look on his face as he was fitting stuck in my mind and I hope he doesn't have another seizure, or he gets the treatment he needs. If we weren't there (other people didn't bother to stop), he would have probably ended up in the road and killed.
Will take this opportunity to say a big thanks to the ambulance crew. You do a brilliant job.
What a weird afternoon. It has upset me a bit.
It was quite scary.
He looked like a zombie out of a film. He was staring at me and his eyes were literally popping out of his head. He was shaking violently. It was like the fence he had collapsed against was electrifying him.
I gave him space, made sure he couldn't hurt himself and let him get on with it. After a few minutes he huddled up on the floor with his head between his legs and he began breathing really deeply and slowly.
I called an ambulance and went through the motions. Despite telling the ambulance person I didn't know him at all, she started asking me questions about his medical history! She wasn't very good, but that's for another thread.
Over the next ten minutes he began to come around. He stunk of alcohol, but I don't know if he had been drinking or collapsed on a bottle that someone had left near the fence.
My wife came over with our daughter and we stayed with him and tried to find out some details about him. Initially, I we were giving him space, but when he tried to stand up and he nearly fell over, we tried to steady him.
After what seemed like an eternity (another 10 minutes), the ambulance arrived and they took over. The chap was on his feet trying to find something in his bag at that point. We left and let the crew do their job.
About half an hour later we left the supermarket and passed the ambulance. We went back and asked how the chap was. The crew said he had gone. Everything checked out and he wanted to leave.
I'm sat here now hoping he is ok. I've got the look on his face as he was fitting stuck in my mind and I hope he doesn't have another seizure, or he gets the treatment he needs. If we weren't there (other people didn't bother to stop), he would have probably ended up in the road and killed.
Will take this opportunity to say a big thanks to the ambulance crew. You do a brilliant job.
What a weird afternoon. It has upset me a bit.
Sounds like the chap was either too drunk to know what really happened or more likely he was a frequent sufferer of such incidents - as if it’d been the former the crew would have took him in (unless he became aggressive / violent)
As far as the 999 call handler, she has a very rigid script to work to to establish route and priority - I understand it’s not great and makes you feel like she wasn’t as effective as she possibly could be but those questions and systems are derived internationally for optimum outcome and signposting for clinicians etc.
I can understand your shock and feelings - it’s not a nice scenario to go through especially when unexpected and a complete stranger so minimal closure and history are known
As far as the 999 call handler, she has a very rigid script to work to to establish route and priority - I understand it’s not great and makes you feel like she wasn’t as effective as she possibly could be but those questions and systems are derived internationally for optimum outcome and signposting for clinicians etc.
I can understand your shock and feelings - it’s not a nice scenario to go through especially when unexpected and a complete stranger so minimal closure and history are known
alorotom said:
Sounds like the chap was either too drunk to know what really happened or more likely he was a frequent sufferer of such incidents - as if it’d been the former the crew would have took him in (unless he became aggressive / violent)
As far as the 999 call handler, she has a very rigid script to work to to establish route and priority - I u derstand it’s not great and makes you feel like she wasn’t as effective as she possibly could be but those questions and systems are derived internationally for optimum outcome and signposting for clinicians etc.
I can understand your shock and feelings - it’s not a nice scenario to go through especially when unexpected and a complete stranger so minimal closure and history are known
I fully understand she had a script to go through. However, she asked me some questions about him and I said he can't talk and I don't even know him. She then asked about his medical history.As far as the 999 call handler, she has a very rigid script to work to to establish route and priority - I u derstand it’s not great and makes you feel like she wasn’t as effective as she possibly could be but those questions and systems are derived internationally for optimum outcome and signposting for clinicians etc.
I can understand your shock and feelings - it’s not a nice scenario to go through especially when unexpected and a complete stranger so minimal closure and history are known
I know they have to do it, but she did say to me she had another emergency call waiting so I just wanted to free her up when I knew the ambulance was coming at some point.
At that point, we had established he was breathing and he was coming around.
ciege said:
Well done, many would have passed by.
You can't care for everyone, all the time.
Top marks for being a decent human being!!
I feel terrible because I didn't go near him to start with. I did keep at arm's length from him because I didn't know if he would lash out or want he had on him.You can't care for everyone, all the time.
Top marks for being a decent human being!!
I just hope we did enough.
Was a bit difficult because we had our four year old daughter with us too.
Well done for stepping up and sounds like you did everything you could before the ambulance crew took over, despite the emergency call handler.
But once you have reflected on this event and it does sound like it has got to you, think about doing a first aid course with someone like St Johns. You may never need it, but if you ever do, it might just give you that extra little bit of confidence and maybe save a life.
But once you have reflected on this event and it does sound like it has got to you, think about doing a first aid course with someone like St Johns. You may never need it, but if you ever do, it might just give you that extra little bit of confidence and maybe save a life.
You did the right thing, well done.
I've been a paramedic for 20 years and I still find it disturbing seeing someone having a full on seizure. Thankfully as long as we can get a line in diazepam works a treat.
The time after the seizure is called the post ictal stage and can take a while for the person to come around fully, often they will feel sleepy and yawn a lot. That stage people sometimes assume its drink or drugs is the cause.
As for the call takers questions, I hear lots of people complaining they 'weren't listening' and kept on asking questions like you gave an example of, it's like a card system and isn't very good at taking into account certain situations and won't deviate. Even when a doctor rings up they would still ask the basics, if they just noted what he said and passed that to us on the screen it would be far better.
I've been a paramedic for 20 years and I still find it disturbing seeing someone having a full on seizure. Thankfully as long as we can get a line in diazepam works a treat.
The time after the seizure is called the post ictal stage and can take a while for the person to come around fully, often they will feel sleepy and yawn a lot. That stage people sometimes assume its drink or drugs is the cause.
As for the call takers questions, I hear lots of people complaining they 'weren't listening' and kept on asking questions like you gave an example of, it's like a card system and isn't very good at taking into account certain situations and won't deviate. Even when a doctor rings up they would still ask the basics, if they just noted what he said and passed that to us on the screen it would be far better.
funkyrobot said:
I feel terrible because I didn't go near him to start with. I did keep at arm's length from him because I didn't know if he would lash out or want he had on him.
I just hope we did enough.
Was a bit difficult because we had our four year old daughter with us too.
When I started secondary school, we were told that out maths teacher suffered from intermittent eplileptic fits and that if he had one during a lesson, we were not to touch him or go near him - just go to the nearest classroom and tell the teacher there, who would come and deal with it.I just hope we did enough.
Was a bit difficult because we had our four year old daughter with us too.
IANAM but I would say you did the right thing.
lllnorrislll said:
Well done for stepping up and sounds like you did everything you could before the ambulance crew took over, despite the emergency call handler.
But once you have reflected on this event and it does sound like it has got to you, think about doing a first aid course with someone like St Johns. You may never need it, but if you ever do, it might just give you that extra little bit of confidence and maybe save a life.
Thanks. I did a first aid course years ago, hence why I knew to let him get on with the fit. You still wonder if you are doing things right though. But once you have reflected on this event and it does sound like it has got to you, think about doing a first aid course with someone like St Johns. You may never need it, but if you ever do, it might just give you that extra little bit of confidence and maybe save a life.
chrisgtx said:
You did the right thing, well done.
I've been a paramedic for 20 years and I still find it disturbing seeing someone having a full on seizure. Thankfully as long as we can get a line in diazepam works a treat.
The time after the seizure is called the post ictal stage and can take a while for the person to come around fully, often they will feel sleepy and yawn a lot. That stage people sometimes assume its drink or drugs is the cause.
As for the call takers questions, I hear lots of people complaining they 'weren't listening' and kept on asking questions like you gave an example of, it's like a card system and isn't very good at taking into account certain situations and won't deviate. Even when a doctor rings up they would still ask the basics, if they just noted what he said and passed that to us on the screen it would be far better.
Thanks. I've been a paramedic for 20 years and I still find it disturbing seeing someone having a full on seizure. Thankfully as long as we can get a line in diazepam works a treat.
The time after the seizure is called the post ictal stage and can take a while for the person to come around fully, often they will feel sleepy and yawn a lot. That stage people sometimes assume its drink or drugs is the cause.
As for the call takers questions, I hear lots of people complaining they 'weren't listening' and kept on asking questions like you gave an example of, it's like a card system and isn't very good at taking into account certain situations and won't deviate. Even when a doctor rings up they would still ask the basics, if they just noted what he said and passed that to us on the screen it would be far better.
We never assume anything is related to drink and drugs due to my wife being a type 1 diabetic. We know what can happen to people when things are out of balance. You can't always say it's directly related to drink.
I told the ambulance crew we could smell alcohol, but the the chap had collapsed on a bottle of alcohol and it had leaked on him. Don't know if was his or not.
You all do a great job, by the way.
Yes, the call handler system does seem very rigid. I understand there are steps to go through.
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