If you provide care to a loved one with epilepsy, it’s important that you have the information and resources you need to be as supportive and helpful as possible. In addition to helping your loved one remember medications, and addressing home safety, your loved one may depend on you for transportation and other daily needs. Your loved one may also depend on you for emotional support and encouragement.
In addition to your responsibilities as a caregiver, you need to take care of yourself. It can be easy to forget about your own needs when you’re caring for someone else, but it’s a recipe for caregiver burnout. To be the best caregiver possible, you need to be physically and emotionally well yourself. Here are some tips for taking care of you:
- Let others help; you don’t have to do everything all of the time.
- Enlist others for help with specific tasks, like driving your loved one to grocery shop or run errands, to give yourself some down time.
- Join a support group for family members . . . a local chapter of the Epilepsy Foundation may offer support groups.
- Take time for you. If it’s possible, schedule another friend or relative to spend time with your loved one each week to give you a break.
If your loved one is older, you may need to seek help with other medical conditions, which can be stressful. Get tips for helping an adult with epilepsy.
Helping a teen with epilepsy offers its own unique challenges. In addition to dealing with epilepsy, teens are going through a variety of life-changing events—dating, graduating from high school, perhaps seeking a job for the first time. Here are some tips for helping out.
If you see someone having a seizure with convulsions and/or loss of consciousness, here's how you can help:
- Roll the person on his or her side to prevent choking on any fluids or vomit.
- Cushion the person's head.
- Loosen any tight clothing around the neck.
- Make sure the person can breathe.
- Don’t restrict the person’s movement unless he or she is in danger.
- Don’t put anything into the person's mouth! Contrary to widespread belief, people cannot swallow their tongues during a seizure or any other time.
- Remove any sharp or solid objects that the person might hit during the seizure.
- Take note of how long the seizure lasts and what symptoms occurred so you can tell a doctor or emergency personnel if necessary.
- Stay with the person until the seizure ends.
When someone is experiencing a non-convulsive seizure, he or she may wander aimlessly or make alarming or unusual gestures—this behavior is involuntary. You can help by following these guidelines:
- Remove any dangerous objects from the area around the person or in his or her path.
- Don't try to stop the person from wandering unless he or she is in danger.
- Don't shake the person or shout.
- Stay with the person until he or she is completely alert.
Seeing a friend or loved one experience a seizure can be scary—especially if it’s the first time you’ve been there during a seizure—but it isn’t always an emergency. Ask about what you should do during seizures. Find out when, according to your friend/loved one’s doctor, you should call an ambulance and when it’s best to just stand by and be supportive. You should be sure to call 911 in the following cases:
- The person is pregnant or has diabetes
- The seizure happened in water
- The seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes
- The person does not begin breathing again or does not return to consciousness after the seizure stops
- Another seizure starts before the person regains consciousness
- The person injures himself or herself during the seizure
- This is a first seizure or you think it might be
Next: Helping Teens