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You may struggle with epilepsy and have epileptic seizures. It’s not always possible to prevent epileptic seizures from happening. But you can take steps toward reducing them.
You must be under a physician’s treatment so they can manage your condition. That way, you’ll have someone in charge of your treatment plan and work with you.
The following are steps you can take to reduce your risk of experiencing epileptic seizures:
1. Guard Against Head Trauma
In someone with epilepsy, head trauma can result in seizures. So, it is essential to guard against bumps to the head.
A head injury may not result in just one seizure. One head injury can lead to several seizures after the fact. Therefore, wearing a helmet before riding a bicycle, skating, or playing sports is important. With any type of sport, there may be potential contact with the ground. So, keep your head safe from potential harm.
It is also a good idea to reduce the risk of falling. You can do this by learning stability exercises that can prevent falls.
2. Remain on a Consistent Sleep Schedule
The lack of sleep is one of the main reasons you may experience epileptic seizures. Maintain your sleep schedule by getting up at the same time each day. Likewise, go to bed at the same time. Anytime that you are tired or deprived of sleep, seizures may occur. Maintaining your regular sleep schedule will do a lot to prevent epileptic seizures.
Sometimes, this can be challenging for children and teenagers. Maintaining a sleep schedule is difficult because they always want to stay up later. If you have a child with epilepsy, you must enforce an early bedtime. Doing so will ensure you do your best to prevent them from experiencing seizures.
3. Manage Your Stress
Stress often triggers epileptic seizures. You can manage your stress by taking time throughout the day to relax. As mentioned, make sure you get enough rest.
Exercising is also a great way to reduce stress levels. Besides that, exercise is the most effective way that you can prevent epileptic seizures. The medical community recommends exercise as an effective form of treatment. It’s important to exercise because stress reduction is vital for reducing epileptic seizures.
Lastly, making sure that you are getting enough sleep also helps to reduce stress. So, refrain from staying up late watching movies, reading, and getting wrapped up in other hobbies.
4. Refrain from Consuming Alcohol
Medical professionals recommend that patients with epilepsy refrain from consuming alcoholic beverages. That is because the use of alcohol increases the risk of experiencing seizures. By avoiding alcohol altogether, you can prevent seizures throughout the rest of your life.
If you tend to misuse alcohol, ask your medical provider about programs. They will have a list of facilities and programs that can aid in stopping your use entirely of alcoholic beverages.
This presents additional problems for you if your teenager has a substance use disorder. You need to make sure that your teen is aware that drinking alcohol can lead to epileptic seizures. In addition to that, alcohol may interact negatively with antiepileptic drugs. So, you must not consume alcohol.
5. Take Medication as Your Physician Prescribes
The antiepileptic medications that your doctor prescribes for you are created expressly to prevent seizures. You must not think that you can stop taking these medications without the approval of your physician. This is the case even if your condition appears to be improving. If you fail to take your medications as prescribed, your seizures may return. If they come back, as a worse case, they may be uncontrollable.
You must not take short breaks from your medication either. After taking antiepileptic drugs, you may experience withdrawal seizures if you suddenly stop the medication. On the other hand, if you take too much of your prescription, you can experience seizures because of it.
As you can see, you must only take your antiepileptic drugs as your physician prescribed them. Take them at the same time each day. Also, ask your doctor what to do if you inadvertently miss a dose.
6. Medical Marijuana for Epilepsy
The medical community has conducted many studies on medical marijuana for epilepsy. They have found that medical marijuana can reduce the instances of epileptic seizures. Some studies show that medical marijuana reduces seizures in people who do not experience relief from antiepileptic drugs.
If you need to reset your marijuana tolerance, there are ways to successfully do this, as explained here. Prolonged cannabis use can reduce impact, so resetting your tolerance is an effective way to take the right amount of marijuana.
Conclusion
You must ensure that you or your child regularly visit a neurologist if you have been diagnosed with epilepsy. If you are unhappy with your current treatment, your neurologist may be able to suggest another treatment that will work better for you. You have options. So, continue to stay positive and do everything you can to ensure you successfully manage your epilepsy.