Preparing for an appointment

In some cases, seizures need immediate medical attention, and there's not always time to prepare for an appointment.

In other cases, your first appointment to evaluate a seizure may be with your family doctor or a general practitioner. Or you may be referred to a specialist, such as a doctor trained in brain and nervous system conditions (neurologist) or a neurologist trained in epilepsy (epileptologist).

To prepare for your appointment, consider what you can do to get ready and understand what to expect from your doctor.

What you can do

• Record information about the seizure. Include the time, location, symptoms you experienced and how long it lasted, if you know these details. Seek input from anyone who may have seen the seizure, such as a family member, friend or co-worker, so that you can record information you may not know.
• Write down any symptoms you or your child has experienced, including any that may seem unrelated to the reason for which you scheduled the appointment.
• Make a list of all medications, vitamins and supplements you're taking and the dosages used. Also, write down the reasons you stopped taking any medications, whether this was because of side effects or lack of effectiveness.
• Ask a family member to come with you to the doctor, because it's not always easy to remember everything you've been told during your appointment. Also, since memory loss can happen during seizures, many times an observer is able to better describe the seizure than is the person who's had the seizure.
• Write down questions to ask your doctor.

Preparing a list of questions will help you make the most of your time with your doctor. For a grand mal seizure, some basic questions to ask your doctor include:

• Do I have epilepsy?
• Will I have more seizures?
• What kinds of tests do I need? Do these tests require any special preparation?
• What treatments are available and which do you recommend?
• What types of side effects can I expect from treatment?
• Are there any alternatives to the primary approach you're suggesting?
• Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing?
• Do I need to restrict any activities?
• Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can take home with me? What websites do you recommend?

Don't hesitate to ask any other questions that occur to you.

What to expect from your doctor

Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions, such as:

• When did you or your child begin experiencing symptoms?
• How many seizures have you or your child had?
• How often do the seizures occur? How long do they last?
• Can you describe a typical seizure?
• Do the seizures occur in clusters?
• Do they all look the same, or are there different seizure behaviors you or others have noticed?
• What medications have you or your child tried? What doses were used?
• Have you tried combinations of medications?
• Have you noticed any seizure triggers, such as sleep deprivation or illness?