Treatment Options

Helping Yourself

Always keep your doctor appointments, and notify your doctor if you experience any of the side effects that drugs used to treat epilepsy can cause. Also inform your doctor of all other prescription and nonprescription drugs you are taking. You should always consult your doctor before you stop taking any seizure medication.

You may want to keep a seizure log to record how often you are having seizures and to see if you can associate the seizure with an activity. What follows is a list of some actions you can take to help prevent a seizure.

• Maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet.
• Take a multivitamin that contains folic acid every day.
• Talk to your doctor about starting a well-regulated exercise regimen.
• Get plenty of sleep.
• Avoid activities that trigger seizures. These triggers are patient specific, meaning the things that cause one individual's seizures may not cause another individual's seizures.

There are also some things your friends and family can do to help you while you are having a seizure. These things include:

• Cushioning your head
• Loosening anything that may be tight around your neck
• Turning you on your side so you don't choke on any saliva
• Removing anything in the area that could cause injury if you jerk during the seizure
• Calling for medical assistance if the seizure lasts more than 5 minutes or if you start having multiple seizures.

Ask your friends and family to avoid:

• Placing anything in your mouth or trying to hold your tongue, which will just block your airway. making it harder for you to breathe
• Holding you down

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Note: The above information is intended to supplement, not substitute for, the expertise and judgment of your physician, pharmacist, or other healthcare professional. It is not intended to diagnose a health condition, but it can be used as a guide to help you decide if you should seek professional treatment or to help you learn more about your condition once it has been diagnosed.