Life saving tips on epileptic seizures

Katie Gutteridge was diagnosed with epilepsy aged 17 and is keen encourage the public to help with first aid.

“I once had a seizure in M&S and got stuck in the changing room,” she recalls.

“The staff were trying to break down the door, as the lock was stuck from the outside.

My aunt (who was eight months pregnant) was worried that I might be lying right next to the door, so ended up climbing over to check.

“They finally managed to break the lock after about 20 minutes. Luckily I was ok but 20 minutes is a long time.

“If that was someone having a stroke or heart attack, it could have been fatal.”

She did add that M&S apologised and added: “Although it wasn’t their fault at all, they sent me a card and a huge bunch of flowers.”

People’s reactions to Katie’s seizures are very mixed: “I had a seizure at work and my boss simply stood over me with his arms folded, rooted to the spot.

“Luckily a colleague, who was an ex-fireman, stepped in to give me first aid, telling my boss off for being so useless.”

Katie volunteers for UK charity Epilepsy Action at their head office in Yeadon.

“It gives me a purpose, especially at the moment when I’m unable to get paid work. I can put it on my CV too,” she said.

“Volunteering keeps my brain active, which is really important when I eventually go back to work. And I love being part of a team. Volunteering for a charity is the best place to be in terms of removing barriers.

“There’s a safe place to go in the office when I feel ill and they are really flexible. If ever I’m not well enough, I can change the day I work.”

Epilepsy affects one in every 100 people in the UK. Seizures can range from tonic-clonic seizures – where someone loses consciousness, their body goes stiff, they fall to the floor and all their muscles jerk – to absence seizures, where a person is unconscious for a few seconds.

If you see someone having a seizure, stay with them and protect them from anything dangerous in their surroundings.

Call for help if needed. If in doubt, or if a seizure lasts longer than five minutes, call for an ambulance.

Epilepsy Action chief executive Philip Lee said: “Witnessing a seizure can be frightening and people might worry about making the situation worse.

“But simple things, such as staying with the person until they come round and calling for help, can make a massive difference.

“When people step up to support someone having a seizure, it can make it much less scary for everyone.”