Talk to your healthcare provider about a safe amount of alcohol for you. A drink of alcohol is 12 ounces of beer, 1½ ounces of liquor, or 5 ounces of wine. Alcohol can trigger a seizure, especially if you drink a large amount at one time. Limit or do not drink alcohol as directed.Talk to your healthcare provider if you are having trouble sleeping. Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Talk to your healthcare provider about other ways to manage stress. Eat a variety of healthy foods and drink plenty of liquids during an illness. Talk to your healthcare provider about exercise that is safe for you. Set an alarm to help remind you to take your medicine every day. This will also help prevent medicine side effects.

Take your medicine every day at the same time.

The following can help you manage triggers that may make a seizure start: You may not be able to prevent every seizure. The person must also be close enough to know that you are having a seizure. For nocturnal seizures, he or she may recommend that someone sleep near you.

Your healthcare provider may recommend a change in medicine to decrease the number of seizures.

After a nocturnal seizure, your breathing can become shallow. Your risk also increases if you have nocturnal seizures (seizures during sleep). The risk of SUDEP increases if you have 3 or more generalized tonic-clonic seizures in 1 year. In 1 year, 1 adult in 1,000 adults with epilepsy will have this complication.

Sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a rare complication of epilepsy.

View more treatment options What else do I need to know about epilepsy? The following list of medications are in some way related to or used in the treatment of this condition. Ask your healthcare provider for more information about surgery for epilepsy.

Surgery may help reduce how often you have seizures if medicine does not help.

Do not stop taking your medicine unless directed by your healthcare provider. You may need medicine daily to prevent seizures or during a seizure to stop it.

Medicines will help control your seizures.

The goal of treatment is to try to stop your seizures completely. This scan may be done if other scans do not show where the seizure started.

A SPECT scan uses radioactive material to find where the seizure started in your brain.

You are given radioactive material that helps healthcare providers see the activity better.

A PET scan is used to see activity in areas of your brain.

Tell the healthcare provider if you have any metal in or on your body. Do not enter the MRI room with anything metal. Tell the healthcare provider if you have ever had an allergic reaction to contrast liquid. You may be given contrast liquid to help your brain show up better in the pictures.

CT or MRI pictures may be used to check for abnormal areas.

It is used to find changes in the normal patterns of your brain activity.

An EEG records the electrical activity of your brain.

If possible, bring someone with you who saw you have a seizure. Your healthcare provider will ask for a detailed description of each seizure. Tell the provider how close together the seizures were if you had more than one. A brain scan may also show signs of epilepsy that make another seizure likely. Your risk is higher with a family history of epilepsy.

It may also be diagnosed if you have 1 seizure but are likely to have more. Epilepsy is usually diagnosed if you have at least 2 seizures within 24 hours. Your healthcare provider will ask about your health conditions and what medicines you take. If your seizures are not controlled, epilepsy may become life-threatening. The cause of your epilepsy may not be known. A birth defect, tumor, stroke, dementia, injury, or infection may cause epilepsy. A seizure may last a few seconds or longer than 5 minutes. You may be confused or tired after the seizure. Depending on the type of seizure, you may have movements you cannot control, lose consciousness, or stare straight ahead. A seizure may start in one part of your brain, or both sides may be affected. A seizure means an abnormal area in your brain sometimes sends bursts of electrical activity. Last updated on Oct 1, 2023.Įpilepsy is a brain disorder that causes seizures.

Nocturnal epilepsy treatment