Friday 7 November 2014

Convulsion? you can help!

I got an unusual  call from my sister this evening. I should have suspected that something was wrong earlier since that was her first call to me all day. 
Well, I didn't think anything was wrong until she started talking.
My sister is the sweetest teen I have ever met. But she didn't sound sweet tonight.She was enraged! She just kept talking and fuming.

Apparently in the spate of a month, 2 students had died in her school. The most recent one was today.But what enraged her most was that the student that died today could have lived.
According to her, the 100 level student collapsed outside a class and was left there for more than 20 minutes. A lecturer purportedly checked the boy and went back to lecture his students after locking them in the classroom and stopping them from rendering any help.



A cleaner subsequently went ahead to call the people that eventually took him to the hospital.Unfortunately, he gave up the ghost before he got to their Medical center.According to her, the boy had  convulsed after fainting but nothing was done for him.



Guys, convulsion is not contagious.  Our culture has stigmatised too many people that have at one time or the other in their lives convulsed. What we do not realise is that our stigmatization may lead to the loss of a life.
Here are a few helpful tips about what to do if you are around an individual that is convulsing:






  • Keep calm and reassure other people who may be nearby.
  • Prevent injury by clearing the area around the person of anything hard or sharp.
  • Ease the person to the floor and put something soft and flat, like a folded jacket, under his head.
  • Remove eyeglasses and loosen ties or anything around the neck that may make breathing difficult.
  • Time the seizure with your watch. If the seizure continues for longer than five minutes without signs of slowing down or if a person has trouble breathing afterwards, appears to be injured, in pain, or recovery is unusual in some way, call for medical help
  • Do not hold the person down or try to stop his movements.


  • Contrary to popular belief, it is not true that a person having a seizure can swallow his tongue.Do not put anything in the person’s mouth. Efforts to hold the tongue down can injure the teeth or jaw.
  • Turn the person gently onto one side. This will help keep the airway clear.
  • Don't attempt artificial respiration except in the unlikely event that a person does not start breathing again after the seizure has stopped.
  • Stay with the person until the seizure ends naturally and he is fully awake.
  • Do not offer the person water or food until fully alert
  • Be friendly and reassuring as consciousness returns.
  • Offer to call a taxi, friend or relative to help the person get home if he seems confused or unable to get home without help.


  • Stay calm and speak reassuringly.
  • Guide him away from dangers.
  • Block access to hazards, but don’t restrain the person.
  • If he is agitated, stay a distance away, but close enough to protect him until full awareness has returned.


Fellow Nigerians, I assume that if that male student  that died was in one way or the other related to that lecturer or the students he was teaching, that class would have been suspended and he probably would have been saved.
Please don't join the group of onlookers when next you see someone convulsing or in distress, your act of kindness might save that life.



I pray that the Lord will comfort the grieving family and that the school authorities will probe further into these deaths. 


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