How to support someone with epilepsy

If you know someone who is living with epilepsy, learning how to support them can make a big difference to their emotional health and quality of life.

Epilepsy is a common neurological condition that affects the brain and causes seizures.

According to the Epilepsy Society, around one in 50 people in the UK will have epilepsy at some point in their life.

There are over 40 different types of seizures, so the symptoms of epilepsy can look different from one person to the next and even from one seizure to the next.

Being diagnosed with epilepsy can be isolating without the right support.

In this article, we will look at some of the challenges that people with epilepsy face and how you can support them.

Common challenges faced by people with epilepsy

People with epilepsy may suffer a seizure at any time, but seizures are not the only symptom that they experience.

Epilepsy can impact individuals both physically and emotionally.

How the condition impacts one person’s life may be completely different to how it does for another.

Physical challenges

People with epilepsy experience most of their symptoms before, during, and after having a seizure.

Seizures can cause a variety of different symptoms, depending on the type of seizure and its severity.

The unpredictable nature of seizures poses a big challenge to people with epilepsy because they never know when one may occur.

Physical symptoms of seizures include:

• Loss of consciousness
• Jerking movements of limbs
• Falling over
• “Out-of-body” sensations
• Periods of memory loss
• Headaches
• Periods of confusion
• Fatigue

Physical symptoms of epilepsy can be felt throughout the body as well as taking an emotional toll.

Emotional challenges

As well as dealing with the physical symptoms of epilepsy, for some people, being diagnosed with epilepsy can mean lots of changes to their life that they’re not in control of.

Many with epilepsy are unable to drive because they are at risk of having a seizure at the wheel.

People with epilepsy should also take extra care around flashing lights, open water, heights, and sharp objects in case they have a seizure.

This can sometimes mean that they must make the difficult decision to stop doing things that they previously enjoyed until they have their epilepsy under control.

The condition could even affect their employment if they work in a role that involves driving or one that is classed as high risk for someone with epilepsy.

Epilepsy can make people feel like they’re not in control of their bodies and cause anxiety about when a seizure may happen.

According to the Epilepsy Foundation, feelings of anxiety and depression are especially common in people with epilepsy.

All these changes can leave those with epilepsy feeling frustrated, sad, lost, stressed, and angry. Add to this the fact that some people experience a low mood, insomnia, and anxiety before the onset of a seizure and it’s easy to see how epilepsy can sometimes take its toll on a person’s mental health.

How to support someone with epilepsy

The two best things you can do to support someone with epilepsy is to be there for them and to do your homework and learn about the condition.

Learning about epilepsy will help you to understand what people with the condition experience and teach you how to respond calmly and confidently if they have a seizure in your presence.

Knowing that you can identify the signs that they may be about to have a seizure and provide first aid in the event of a seizure can provide the person with epilepsy with some comfort and peace of mind.

Epilepsy training with CBAT

Here at Care Business Associate Training, we run a popular online three-hour epilepsy training course suitable for anyone who wants to learn about epilepsy.

Our course is popular with both employers who care for people with epilepsy and individuals with loved ones who have been diagnosed with epilepsy.

Key areas that our epilepsy training covers include:

• What is epilepsy?
• Different types of epilepsy
• Epilepsy treatments.
• The epilepsy rescue medication Buccal Midazolam
• First aid for seizures
• Individual epilepsy care plans

Educating yourself in epilepsy and how to provide first aid to someone having a seizure can help you to support a loved one with the condition and help to improve their quality of life.