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some people (approx 20%) who have seizures have prewarning with signs such as aura, etc >- not sure if heart rate is one of the prewarning signs but it might be:
perhaps an option to capture heart beat data for some period of time in a rolling log, eg. last > 5 minutes prior to seizure to compare to heart beat data immediately prior to seizure with
aim to see if change of heart rhythm can be used to warn of oncoming seizure to allow
sufferer to get themselves to a safe area, lay down and inform others in the areaYes, one of the OpenSeizureDetector users is very interested in the heart rate monitoring side - she thinks there is an increase in heart rate above the normal resting one before a seizure. Your idea of a change in rhythm is an interesting one which I hadn't thought of - would maybe need to measure heart rate variability to see if it was becoming more eratic?
medical staff always ask how long did the seizure last; carers, at least for the first few
seizures are unlikely to time a seizure, or there might be no-one to witness the seizure. App
could time the convulsions.It is possible to extract this from the logged data, but I don't have a nice easy display of it, so that would be a good idea - maybe have the phone (or watch) display the time since the seizure started - that would be useful for people offering first aid because they should call an ambulance at 5 minutes if the seizure hasn't stopped.
Good ideas, thanks!
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Graham_Jones
@TassieTiger
I was thinking of some possible additional optional features:
perhaps an option to capture heart beat data for some period of time in a rolling log, eg. last 5 minutes prior to seizure to compare to heart beat data immediately prior to seizure with aim to see if change of heart rhythm can be used to warn of oncoming seizure to allow sufferer to get themselves to a safe area, lay down and inform others in the area
Breathing: A seizure may cause a person to have pauses in breathing (apnea). If these pauses last too long, they can reduce the oxygen in the blood to a life-threatening level. Many sports/smart watches can monitor blood oxygen levels. Watch could send the phone data and phone then raises alarm/Recording to play message saying 'Possible airway blockage, please check when safe, perform CPR etc.' along with optional message to carers phone.
Heart rhythm: A seizure may cause a dangerous heart rhythm or cardiac arrest.
Watch could send phone data and alarm/Recording to play message saying 'Check pulse, possible heart problems etc.'
along with optional message to carers phone.
In the unfortunate cases where a life might not be saved even with the features implemented, the data, if available, could show medical staff, carers and family more certainty as to the cause of death.
@Graham_Jones I realise you started the project due to the needs of your son. Some of the features requested may not fit his current needs, they may fit more for adolescents and older when they become more independent - which is another level of worry for family carers when they venture out more.
Potentially this project could be the first 'citizen medicine' equivalent of citizen science projects, especially if anonymous data is shared to help drive accuracy in seizure detection and combined with other data, perhaps for some, warning of potential forthcoming seizure.