Tracking Seizures

Why is it important to track seizures?

Knowing what happens during a seizure and how often they occur are two of the most important seizure details. Keeping track of seizures can help:

Seizures can look and feel different from one person to the next.
A first-person report of what is going on will help the doctor tell if the events are seizures or not. And figure out what kind of seizure it is.
Knowing the seizure type will help you and your family know: how to respond to a seizure, what to be concerned about, what NOT to worry about, and when to get emergency help.

Not all seizure medicines work for all types of seizures. Some are better for focal seizures than for generalized ones or in people with a specific epilepsy syndrome.
Knowing the seizure type will help everyone decide which medicine or treatment to try.

Track if seizures happen less often or have changed after a new medicine or treatment is started.
If seizures continue or get worse, this information will also help you and your team decide when to try a different treatment.

Tracking side effects of medicines on seizure calendars can help you and your doctor know how you are tolerating the drug.
See if side effects get better over time or go away when a dose is changed.
If side effects don't go away, it’s one more piece of information to use when deciding if other treatments should be tried.

Writing down when seizures occur and what happened around that time helps you recognize possible triggers.
You may notice a pattern, such as seizures that occur only at a specific time of day.
Or you can see if certain factors occur around the time of your seizures, such as not sleeping well, sick with fever or illness, stress or missing medicines.
Use this information to make changes and help you get better seizure control.

Authored By:

Steven C. Schachter MD

on Sunday, August 11, 2013

on Friday, August 20, 2021

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