Neurological Emergencies—Status Epilepticus

Status epilepticus is continuous seizures, or a series of seizures during which the person never wakes up completely between seizures. It is very bad. People who have generalized tonic-clonic seizures don't breathe very well, and their neurons are firing at an incredible pace during the seizure activity. It's like sprinting the Boston Marathon without taking a breath. How far would you get?

Status epilepticus is a true emergency. You have to break the seizure activity or get the person under general anesthesia within 30 minutes. Period. If not, irreversible damage can occur to the neurons, so that the person dies or remains persistently vegetative.

It's like a cardiac arrest: the clock is ticking, so you have to know or have available an algorithm. Now, back to the Neurological Emergencies page to write down your algorithm.