My A father had what appeared to be a seizure right in front of me, so I called the paramedics and, while on the phone to them, I treated it like a seizure. When it started I yelled to my Mom: "HE'S SEIZING!" and she knew what I meant. It wasn't until the paramedic on the phone asked me was he still breathing that I checked, because he was breathing when the paramedic on the phone started talking to me. I checked again and he wasn't breathing. He was breathing when I placed the call. A minute or so later and he wasn't.
I did CPR until the paramedics arrived. They did CPR and the heart shock thing. Nothing worked. He died on my family room floor nearly 4 months ago.
It turns out my father had a massive heart attack (a great big ol' coronary artery thrombosis) but it did NOT look like any heart attack I've ever read about or seen on TV. It looked exactly like the seizures I see people with epilepsy have, except within about 5 mins he was dead.
My point, I suppose, is that we should never assume that we are witnessing an alcoholic seizure. I did. I was wrong.
I have to not blame myself for assuming that's what it was. But, with an AXH and an A father, alcoholism is uppermost in my mind when I deal with anyone who is a bit "off", if that makes sense. So, instead of the ABC of Airway, Breathing, Circulation I go straight for ASABC: Alcoholic?, Seizure?, Airway, Breathing Circulation.
I put my father in the recovery position and then he stopped breathing. Just like that.