How to Live With Grand Mal Seizures

Grand mal seizures occur when an electrical disturbance takes place in the neurological transmissions of your brain. This disturbance causes an unexpected loss of consciousness and severe convulsions, otherwise known as grand mal seizures. While there are medications which can help you manage your condition, they are not guaranteed to completely prevent future seizures from taking place and are not a cure for your condition. There are, however, steps you can take to ensure quality of life when diagnosed with epilepsy.

Things You'll Need

• Medication

Show More

Instructions

• 1

  Talk to your doctor. Staying in close communication with your doctor is imperative to living a life with grand mal seizures. In many cases, epilepsy can be managed with the right medication or combination of medications. However, your doctor cannot adjust the dose of your current meds, or prescribe a new medication which may be more effective, without your input.

• 2

  Know your triggers. Most everyone with epilepsy has a specific trigger which will spark a grand mal seizure. Some of the most common triggers include anxiety, stress, fatigue and bright flashing lights. To determine your triggers, keep a record of each grand mal seizure you have, writing down the events that occurred just prior to it; eventually you will notice a pattern. Once you have determined what your trigger or triggers are, do your best to avoid these situations.

• 3

  Recognize your aura. In some cases, people who suffer from epilepsy experience an aura, or a physical warning, right before a grand mal seizure occurs. For some this can be a headache, while others feel weak; this "feeling" is different for everyone. Recognizing your aura can help you prepare for your seizure, making it less of a danger for yourself and less traumatic for those around you.

• 4

  Know what to do. Though many epileptics have great success with their seizure medications, there is no guarantee that another grand mal seizure will never take place again. For this reason, you need to know what to do if and when a seizure happens. This information is not as beneficial for you as it is for those you come in contact with daily. You know your tendencies; you know what may happen before and after your seizure takes place, and how long your seizures generally last. This is vital information for family, friends and co-workers to have.

• 5

  Find support. It is not impossible to live a normal life with epilepsy, however you may have moments when you wonder why it has to be you. You may have moments after a grand mal seizure has occurred when you can move forward and accept it as a bump in the road, while other times you want to burst into tears, scared to death of another seizure taking place. This is why a strong circle of support is so important. Whether you choose to reach out to others with epilepsy, lean on family and friends or both, there will be moments when you need someone to discuss your feelings with. It is sometimes the only way you can the strength to face another day.