How can epilepsy affect your life

When someone is being considered for epilepsy surgery, the possible impact of surgery, and how their memory may be affected, will be carefully considered to see whether surgery is suitable. If surgery is an option for you, you may want to talk through your university plans with your neurosurgeon to discuss any impact on your learning. For some people, epilepsy and seizures can affect their memory and ability to take in, store and retrieve information.

This can happen during and after a seizure. It may be an ongoing issue or it may only happen following seizures. If your memory is affected, memory aids and techniques may help. Also mobile phones can be a useful reminder.

You may be able to have someone to take lecture notes for you or you could use a laptop. You may be able to get a disabled student's allowance to help with the cost. Seizures can affect your concentration both during and after a seizure. If they happen during classes or lectures, it can be hard to concentrate on what is being said or to take notes. If you know that your epilepsy affects your ability to concentrate, having someone to take notes for you might be helpful.

You might also find that certain times of the day are better for studying. For example, if you have seizures during the night or early morning, studying late in the day, once you have recovered, might be better.

If you have a seizure during a class or lectures, it can be disruptive for you. Depending on how your seizures affect you, it may be only a minor disruption, or you may need to go somewhere quiet to recover, which will take you out of the class.

You could plan ahead for what you want to happen if you have a seizure during classes or lectures. It might help to talk to your lecturers about what your seizures are like, how they affect you and what you want to happen if you have one. This could help to make sure you are not taken out of a class or lecture unnecessarily, or that you have a place to recover, if you need to. It could help to make sure you are treated how you want to be treated during and after a seizure. If your seizures mean that you miss lectures, lecturers may be able to email you notes or slides that you have missed or they may be on the university intranet, or friends may be happy to share their notes.

Many people find revising for and taking exams worrying and stressful. This could cause more seizures than usual, if stress is a trigger for you. Planning your revision in advance might make you feel more confident about getting it all done, and help you to be less stressed.

Revising somewhere quiet and at the best time of the day for you might also help with concentration and memory. If having epilepsy affects your memory and your thinking speed, you might find that some sort of "special provision" can help — for example, being able to take your exams in a separate room or having more time to complete the exam.

You might be able to have someone to write for you in an exam. This will need planning and you would need to talk to your lecturers and tutors about it. If your course includes practical or course work, you may find that your epilepsy affects this.

For example, if you are doing practical work in a laboratory and you have a seizure, might this be a safety risk for you? Or, if you are doing a course with physical activities, how might having a seizure affect you? Thinking about the type of course you are doing, and the risks from having seizures, may help you to plan ahead.

It is important to be realistic about potential risks. For example, if you have a warning before a seizure, this might give you enough time to get to a safe place before the seizure starts, so your seizures may not pose any risk. Many situations can be made safer with simple measures, and it might help to think of some ideas yourself or to talk them through with your lecturers or tutors. Some university degrees include placements as part of the course.

Even if your university lecturers and tutors know about your epilepsy, the staff at your placement may not. Thinking about what the placement will be, and getting in touch with the people there as soon as possible, might help them to understand your epilepsy.

It is important to be realistic about whether your epilepsy might affect the placement,and to look at ways of making the placement safer, if necessary. It may be worth talking to your tutors, and enlisting their help in liaising with the placement. The occurrence of seizures is unpredictable and often dangerous, increasing the risk of injury, hospitalization and mortality, and adversely affecting a patient's mental health, often resulting in anxiety, depression or cognitive impairment.

Seizures can also result in stigmatization and social exclusion, with detrimental effects on an individual's confidence and self-esteem. However, the burden of epilepsy extends beyond the effects of seizures themselves. In particular, individuals with epilepsy are significantly more likely to have medical or psychiatric comorbidities than those without epilepsy, and comorbidity in patients with epilepsy has been shown to be strongly correlated with negative impacts on subjective health status and quality of life QoL.

Living well is a realistic goal for many people with epilepsy. But life with epilepsy isn't without some bumps. There are times things will be going well. Life is going along smoothly. Then something happens. The way you dealt with problems in the past might not be working as well now. It may be time to reach out and learn something new.

You may need a new way of looking at life with epilepsy, a new way of coping, or a new way of getting help. Being diagnosed with epilepsy can be upsetting and make you feel isolated and alone. The good news is - you're not alone! Chances are there is a community of people in your area going through the same challenges you are. Wherever you are, one of the most important things to help you live with epilepsy is to find a support network — a community of people you can talk to, share the good times and the bad.

Get help when you need it and give help when you can do that too. Talking about it can help in other ways too. Each time someone with epilepsy or a family member shares their story, they are teaching others about epilepsy. One person or one fact at a time. Epilepsy can put a strain on families in many ways. Everyone is in it together.

Yet they experience it differently. The person who has seizures will feel one way, but a parent or spouse may feel quite differently. Maybe they are angry this is happening to their loved one and their lives have changed.

They may be scared and try to protect their family member who has seizures. But the person with seizures may feel overprotected and want some space and independence. They may be afraid they are a burden to their family and pull away. Most people with epilepsy can participate fully in school. At times, seizures or side effects of seizure medicines may interfere with schoolwork.

Some children and adults may be at risk for learning difficulties from the way seizures affect the brain or from other neurological problems. Seizure medicines may make students feel tired, make it difficult to pay attention, or make a student more forgetful. It may be hard to stay focused during the school day or get homework done at night. Or maybe having seizures at night are causing problems at school during the day. Some students may find they fall behind.