My Epilepsy Diary

If you have suffered with seizures for years or have just had your first seizure one of the most important things you can do is to keep a diary of your seizures. As a caretaker I kept a diary of Charley’s seizures and he also participated in making sure the diary was accurate. Epilepsy is a very individual illness and each seizure that a person endures tells a story.  It is important to track your seizure occurrences so your doctor can prescribe medication in the right dose to be taken at the best time of day for your seizure situation.

Along with keeping a diary that tracks the date, time and severity of your seizures I recommend keeping a diary of behaviors.  It is important to keep up with mood changes, depression or aggressive behavior that occurs before, during or after seizures. Tracking patterns of behavior that are tied to seizure events can help you and your medical team understand individual aspects of seizures better.

I write in Epilepsy Unveiled about Charley’s patterns of aggressive behavior that occurred along with him having Tonic-Clonic (grand-mal) seizures.  I knew in my heart the behavior was tied to his epilepsy and by clueing into the timing of his behavioral problems I could predict his upcoming seizure events pretty accurately.  I did not know to keep a diary of behaviors but looking back I know that would have been a great help to us.  Keeping a diary is important because there are so many layers of life that are interrupted by seizures that it is hard to put the clues those seizures give together and use them to your advantage.

If you are living with epilepsy, as a caregiver or person with seizures, your choices are limited about many things in life.  Do not choose to allow seizures to force your life to be only survival.  You will find the small things you do, like keeping a diary or voicing your disappointment in having to endure seizures, to be one of the most important elements of . . . you . . .  having . . .  epilepsy.

Never allow epilepsy to have you!

 

Introducing My Epilepsy Diary

 

Just create a My Epilepsy Diary profile. Whenever you experience a seizure, side effect, mood change, or other personal event related to your epilepsy, log onto My Epilepsy Diary from your browser or smart phone. Record what happened and fill in the details quickly using the many common situations My Epilepsy Diary already provides.

My Epilepsy Diary also helps you track all your medications and dosages, even for non-epilepsy medications and vitamins. You can evenset up email or text reminders to take your medications!

Before your doctor’s appointment, simply print out a report. My Epilepsy Diary provides your doctor a complete, organized, and easy-to-read record of your recent epilepsy history, as well as long-term trends that show how effective your treatment has been and whether it may need to be changed.

No more forgotten details. No more complicated record keeping. No more trouble remembering your medications. My Epilepsy Diary makes managing your epilepsy, or your loved one’s epilepsy, fast and easy.

Try it today!

If you need assistance, go to the My Epilepsy Diary Help page for a user guide and additional information.

About Lola Jines-Burritt