How to Prevent Status Seizures

Status epilepticus is a medical condition that literally means "continuous seizure." Also known as a status seizure, these types of seizures last for over 30 minutes. Any seizure over five minutes can cause permanent neurological damage, so status seizures are dangerous medical emergencies. The best treatment of status epilepticus is to prevent the occurrence of status seizures in the first place.

Instructions

• 1

  Rule out other health conditions. Although most chronic seizure conditions are not curable, some status seizures are symptoms of an underlying health condition, such as toxicity of the blood or a brain tumor. See your doctor and explain your seizure symptoms. He will put you through a series of diagnostic tests and exams to be sure that your status seizures are not being caused by another health condition. If he can find an underlying cause, treating that health condition will often prevent future status seizures.

• 2

  Take your seizure medication as directed with no changes. Many people with chronic seizure conditions are on prescription seizure medication. Although these drugs do not prevent all status seizures and can have serious side effects, if they are recommended by your doctor, you must take them. Failure to take them correctly or stopping taking them without prior approval from your doctor can actually cause a status seizure.

• 3

  Learn what triggers your status seizures and avoid those stimuli if possible. By recounting what you were doing before each seizure episode, you may find that certain stimuli cause your status seizures. For some patients, this may mean flashing lights and for others it could be a certain smell. Not everyone who has status seizures will have specific triggers, but if you do, you should do your best to avoid them.

• 4

  Keep a food diary to determine if there is a relationship between what you eat and when you have status seizures. Write down everything you eat each day and note when you have a seizure episode. By going back through your food diary, you may find that certain foods contribute to your status seizures. If you think that something may be contributing to your seizure condition, eliminate that type of food from your diet for a month. If there is improvement, talk to your doctor about what you found and how to make a balanced diet around eliminating that food.

• 5

  Consider surgery options for status seizures that do not respond to medication or lifestyle changes. Recent developments in medicine have found that removing certain parts of the brain may prevent status seizures. You will need to talk about this with your doctor. Remember that brain surgery comes with all sorts of risks and has a limited success rate.