Serious injury can occur if a seizure occurs during driving or when operating dangerous equipment. For this reason, people with epilepsy whose seizures are not under good control should not do these activities.

People who have infrequent seizures may not have any severe restrictions on their lifestyle.

• Difficulty learning
• Inhaling fluid into the lungs, which can cause aspiration pneumonia
• Injury from falls, bumps, or self-inflicted bites during a seizure
• Injury from having a seizure while driving or operating machinery
• Many epilepsy medications cause birth defects -- women wishing to become pregnant should alert their doctor in advance in order to adjust medications
• Permanent brain damage (stroke or other damage)
• Prolonged seizures or numerous seizures without complete recovery between them (status epilepticus)
• Side effects of medications

Call your local emergency number (such as 911) if this is the first time a person has had a seizure or if a seizure is occurring in someone without a medical ID bracelet (which has instructions explaining what to do).

In the case of someone who has had seizures before, call 911 for any of these emergency situations:

• This is a longer seizure than the person normally has, or an unusual number of seizures for the person
• Repeated seizures over a few minutes
• Repeated seizures where consciousness or normal behavior is not regained between them (status epilepticus)

Call your health care provider if any new symptoms occur, including possible side effects of medications (drowsiness, restlessness, confusion, sedation, or others), nausea/vomiting, rash, loss of hair, tremors or abnormal movements, or problems with coordination.

Images

Central nervous system

Brain structure

Limbic system

Treatment of epilepsy

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Review Date: 01/23/2010
Reviewed By: Linda Vorvick, MD, Medical Director, MEDEX Northwest Division of Physician Assistant Studies, University of Washington School of Medicine; Luc Jasmin, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, and Department of Anatomy at UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)