Tests During Treatment

Above: An EEG recording of a complex partial seizure.
Below: An EEG recording with no seizure activity.

The following tests may be ordered when epilepsy is treated with medication:

• Blood tests to make sure that there is enough medicine in your blood to prevent seizures, but not so much as to cause side effects.
• Blood and urine tests to see whether the drugs are having any negative side effects on your health. How often these have to be done depends on the drug you are taking and how it makes you feel.
• EEG tests to see whether the medicine is having the hoped-for effect on electrical irregularities in the brain.

The primary aim of these and all tests used to monitor treatment is to give the doctor the information needed to provide the best care in each individual case.

Helping Treatment Work

• Ask your doctor ahead of time what to do if you forget a pill.
• Don't stop taking your pills suddenly. It could cause non-stop seizures that would put you in the hospital and might even threaten your life.
• Tell your doctor if you notice any unusual changes in health, feelings, or behavior when you or your child are taking these medicines.
• Be careful about drinking beer, wine, or hard liquor. Check with your doctor about how these drinks will mix with your medicine.
• Get enough sleep.
• Think about things you want to ask before you see the doctor. Write them down so you don't forget.
• Keep follow-up appointments. You may need to have special tests from time to time to make sure the drugs aren't doing anything to your body that might be bad for you.
• Tell doctors planning surgery for you, or treating you for other medical conditions, that you have epilepsy and what medicine you take for it. Write down its name and dosage and keep it in a safe place.
• Ask your doctor if there are any cold pills, fever medicines or other drug-store products that you should not use because you take epilepsy medicine.
• If your doctor changes your medicine, don't drive until you know how it's going to make you feel.