Seizure in Children and Adults: Emergency Response Guide – Seeing someone have a seizure is terrifying. It often happens without warning. You might be at a hotel breakfast, walking on the beach, or sitting in a meeting. Suddenly, a family member, a colleague, or even a stranger collapses and starts to convulse.
Your first instinct is panic. You want to stop the shaking. You want to help. But doing the wrong thing in those first few minutes can actually cause more harm than the seizure itself.
Whether it is a child spiking a high fever or an adult with a known condition, your role is simple: keep them safe until it ends. Here is a practical guide on how to handle a seizure and when you need to rush to the hospital.
1. What Is Happening?
A seizure is essentially an electrical storm in the brain. For a short time, the brain’s signals get scrambled. This can look very different depending on the person.
- Convulsive Seizures: This is what most people imagine. The person falls, their muscles stiffen, and they jerk uncontrollably. They will likely be unconscious.
- Absence Seizures: These are common in children. The child might just stare blankly into space for a few seconds, unresponsive to their name. It looks like they are daydreaming, but they are actually having a seizure.
Regardless of the type, the person is not in control. They cannot “snap out of it.”
2. The Immediate Response: Do’s and Don’ts
If someone drops to the ground and starts seizing, you need to act fast. But you also need to stay calm.
What You Should Do:
- Protect the Head: This is your number one priority. Place a pillow, a folded jacket, or your hands under their head to stop it from banging against the hard floor.
- Clear the Area: Move chairs, tables, or sharp objects away. They cannot control their movements, and you don’t want them striking something dangerous.
- Time It: Look at your watch immediately. You need to know exactly how long the seizure lasts. This information is critical for the doctors later.
- Turn Them on Their Side: Once the jerking stops, or if you can do it safely during the seizure, roll them onto their side. This is the “recovery position.” It keeps their airway clear and prevents them from choking on saliva or vomit.
What You Must NEVER Do:
- Do Not Restrain Them: Do not try to hold them down or stop the shaking. You could break a bone or tear a muscle.
- Do Not Put Anything in Their Mouth: This is a dangerous myth. They will not swallow their tongue. If you try to force a spoon or your fingers into their mouth, you risk breaking their teeth or getting your fingers bitten off.
3. Special Case: Febrile Seizures in Children
In a tropical climate like Bali, fevers are common. They can be caused by anything from a flu to dengue fever. In young children (usually between 6 months and 5 years), a rapid spike in temperature can trigger a “febrile seizure.”
It looks incredibly scary. Your child might become stiff, their eyes might roll back, and they might twitch. If this happens:
- Place the child on the floor on their side.
- Do not put them in a cold bath. This can shock the body.
- Once the seizure stops, seek medical attention immediately to find the source of the fever. While febrile seizures usually don’t cause brain damage, you need a doctor to rule out serious infections like meningitis.
4. When Does It Become an Emergency?
Not every seizure requires lights and sirens. If a person has epilepsy, they might have a seizure, wake up, and be fine. However, in the following situations, you must call for help immediately:
- First-Time Seizure: If the person has never had a seizure before, this is a medical emergency. It could be a sign of a brain infection, a head injury, or a stroke.
- Lasts Longer Than 5 Minutes: If the active seizing continues past five minutes, it is unlikely to stop on its own. This is a life-threatening condition called status epilepticus.
- Multiple Seizures: If they wake up and go right back into another seizure.
- Injury: If they hit their head hard when they fell.
- Water: If the seizure happened in a swimming pool or the ocean. Even if they seem fine, they might have inhaled water.
5. Why You Need Professional Support: Bali International Medical Centre known as BIMC Hospital
If you are in Bali and a seizure occurs, you need a facility that can handle neurological emergencies. A small clinic is not enough. You need advanced diagnostics and a rapid response team. This is why Bali International Medical Centre known as BIMC Hospital, Kuta is your safest option.
Advanced Diagnostics are Critical After a seizure, the doctors need to know why it happened. Was it a bleed? A tumor? A clot? To find out, you need imaging. BIMC Hospital Kuta is equipped with its own CT Scan unit. This allows doctors to scan the brain immediately to rule out life-threatening causes like bleeding or swelling. You cannot get this clarity at a standard GP practice.
Trauma Capabilities People often hurt themselves when they seize. They might dislocate a shoulder or crack a rib when they fall. BIMC Hospital Kuta is a designated Accident & Emergency Centre. They have a multidisciplinary team, including orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons, ready to treat the fall injuries alongside the seizure itself.
24/7 Readiness Seizures don’t follow a schedule. Whether it is 2:00 PM or 3:00 AM, the BIMC Hospital Kuta Emergency Room is fully staffed. Their team is trained in Advanced Life Support (ACLS), ensuring that if the patient stops breathing or the heart stops, they know exactly what to do.
Contact Information Keep these details accessible. In the panic of the moment, you do not want to be searching Google.
- Location: Jl. Bypass Ngurah Rai No. 100X, Kuta, Bali.
- 24-Hour Emergency Call: (+62 361) 761 263
- WhatsApp (Text Only): +62 811-3960-8500
You cannot control when a seizure happens, but you can control how you react. By staying calm, protecting the person from injury, and knowing exactly where to turn for medical help, you turn a chaotic situation into a managed one.
Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, get to BIMC Hospital Kuta. It is always better to be checked out than to take a risk with your brain health.
© 2026 BIMC Hospital – Kuta. All rights reserved.
