Ambulance and epilepsy

[MyfanwyMontez]

I am epileptic and had a particularly bad seizure a week ago. My husband was here , thankfully and he called an ambulance. Given that so many MN’s think calling an ambulance is a waste of resources, was he being unreasonable? I told him not to( when I could communicate).

i have called 999 when dh had a really bad seizure. glad I did as they were able to do obs and find out why it was so bad.
when dd first had epilepsy I called them on more than one occasion (a couple of times she was taken to hospital. they were fine and on the occasion that when they arrived she was coming out of it, they reassured me that that is what they are there for.
so your DH did the right thing.

Hi, another one here with epilepsy and I agree you husband did the right thing. If you have a seizure, don't regain consciousness and have another, it's very serious and you need immediate attention. The paramedics would not think you were wasting their time at all.

I hope things improve for you.

Mistlewoe I once came round after a seizure to find a vicar praying over me - slightly disconcerting to say the least! I didn't realise vicars made a habit of it, I thought that was just a rogue one

It depends if you need urgent treatment and/or transfer to hospital and it's not possible/safe to put you in the car and drive. Unless you are classified as red/priority it can take quite a while for them to come.

When my dd has had seizures I 've scooped her up and driven the 8 mins (10 of bad traffic lights) to the hospital and pulled up on the double yellows - twice security has put my car in the car park for me (still charged a fortune of course). The only ambulance was dh's football injury, I couldn't pick him up!

Do look into a seizure alert dog - I've heard they are brilliant at knowing before it happens, our dog (untrained) seems to know too, he licks dd incessantly 2-3 mins ahead, no idea how they know.

Ask your hospital consultant for advice and guidance for the future. My DD had epilepsy from the age of 2 and for a long time we had to call an ambulance every time as the seizures didn't stop by themselves and the diazepam we were prescribed to give her had little/no effect. We were eventually prescribed a different 'rescue' medication and we would only ring 999 if that didn't work within the timescales written into the protocol written by her medical team.

It's not fair to tell you DH he has to watch you be in a life threatening situation and do nothing.

If you love him and he loves you absolutely cannot expect him to do that

*Call 999 for someone who:

• is having a seizure for the first time
• has a seizure that lasts more than five minutes
• has lots of seizures in a row
• has breathing problems or has seriously injured themselves*

This is all true for pure epilepsy but doesn't necessarily apply to the OP as she has another medical condition causing the seizures (the brain tumour) which may make her health more complicated and precarious.

OP the best people to discuss this with are your medical team who know your medical history, not the mostly non-medically qualified members of mumsnet, many of whom who seem to feel that an ambulance is only needed if you have a limb hanging off.

”I once came round after a seizure to find a vicar praying over me”

I came round after one to find my school Headteacher standing over me, now that was a shock! He was about 6’4” so a long way up from the ground!

We bought GPS tracker from trackimo because my parents and I are afraid that we might lose a special member of our family without a response or doing nothing by disregarding the safety of my brother who has Epilepsy. By then, we can monitor and track him anytime anywhere he goes and keeps us on updating of what he does in that specific area or place. You maybe think guys that we are invading the privacy of his life but he has no problem with it. My brother understands that his safety is everybody's concern in our family.