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When someone has a seizure

For people in the United States who have seizures or epilepsy; for someone who has just had a first seizure, or thinks they did; for parents; and for anyone who may one day be standing next to a person having a seizure. Seizure first aid, and when to call 911. What a seizure and epilepsy are. What a seizure can look like, which is often not what people expect. After a first seizure. Diagnosis and treatment. Day to day: triggers, sleep, staying safe. The frightening parts, said plainly. Mood, loneliness and shame. Children and school. Work and driving. Finding help. And the words to say when you call or write. No quiz and no score. One thing at a time.

This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 2, 2026: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Epilepsy Basics; First Aid for Seizures; Types of Seizures; Treatment of Epilepsy; Managing Epilepsy; Health and Safety Concerns; Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy; Preventing Epilepsy; and Guidance for Schools); the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (its Epilepsy and Seizures page); MedlinePlus (Epilepsy, and Seizures); the Epilepsy Foundation (its Helpline page); and the Job Accommodation Network (its Epilepsy/Seizure Disorder page, and its contact page). The description of Crisis Text Line is from its own front page, read the same day. The Epilepsy Foundation and Crisis Text Line are private organisations describing themselves; we have no connection with any of them. We did not call or text any line, contact any provider, school, program or group, or search any directory. The two sources give different hours for the helpline, and the page says so. We did not read the Epilepsy Foundation’s first aid training, state driving law or medication assistance pages (its site would not open them for us), the febrile seizures page, any seizure action plan template, any clinical guideline, any drug label, any law or regulation, any state’s rules, or the research behind any statement; where the page touches one of these, it says so. The page has no questionnaire and gives no score, on purpose: a list is not an assessment. It names no medicine and gives no dose, quotes no named person, and gives no figures for how common seizures, epilepsy or death from epilepsy are; the sources have them, with their context. Lines marked “Ours” are our own suggestions. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a clinic, a school or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].