If you were out and about, and you saw somebody having an epileptic seizure, would you know what to do? According to a recent survey by Epilepsy Action, there’s a good chance the answer is no. The survey, which involved 2,000 people in the UK, found that 43% of people would have no idea how to respond to a seizure. Worse still, many people have misconceptions that may cause more harm than good.
“Many people think you should restrain someone or put something in their mouth, but that’s actually really dangerous,” says Chantal Spittles, spokesperson for Epilepsy Action. “It’s a concerning misconception that we want to put right.”
The situation is complicated by the fact that all seizures are not made alike. In actuality, there are dozens of different types of epileptic seizure, as well as other variants of seizure with a non-epileptic cause.
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