Be Prepared
Be Prepared for Seizures
Your support can mean increased confidence and independence. Everyone experiences epilepsy differently.
Even if seizures are not yet as controlled as you and the person you care for would like, knowing
what to do when seizures occur can in itself encourage independence and confidence.
Know the basic steps. First aid for epilepsy is not difficult for people who are well-informed.
The best way to ensure that your loved one will encounter well-informed people is to help to educate
them. Ask the healthcare professional what seizures are most likely to occur, what the risks are,
and what specific steps are most important to take when giving first aid. Take notes; if you can’t
find a fact sheet that fits the condition you’re dealing with, create your own and make copies for
those who may need them.
Make sure that people at work or school know the drill. In places the person you care for visits
often, such as work or school, work together to choose a few people to educate about epilepsy and
the type of first aid that may and may not be needed.
- For the workplace, suggest that some responsible person—a human resources representative, a supervisor,
or a trusted colleague—be informed about the condition. Make sure the person has all the information
he or she needs, including basic first-aid instructions and the healthcare professional’s number.
- For school, inform an administrator, the school nurse, or your child’s teacher. Inform your child’s
athletic coach, especially if your child travels with the team. Make sure the school has all the
information it needs, including basic first-aid instructions and the healthcare professional’s number.
Help strangers give the right kind of help. When the person you care for is traveling or out in
public alone, he or she will need a way to communicate—in the event of a seizure—what others should
and shouldn’t do to help. Your loved one should:
- Always carry a medical identification card with name and address, basic information about the
condition, and her or his healthcare professional’s name and telephone number. Some people
also choose to wear an alert bracelet or pendant.
- Carry a card or a sheet of paper listing the basic steps for first aid for the types of seizures
he or she is prone to have.
Be Prepared When Planning a Pregnancy
Most women with epilepsy have normal pregnancies and give birth to healthy children.
Encourage your loved one to talk with her obstetrician and the healthcare professional who treats
her epilepsy to learn how her condition and its treatment may affect pregnancy, labor, and breast-feeding.
Support the plan she develops with her healthcare professionals in any way you can.
The planning process should start early—before conception, if possible—and should help your loved
one to set her mind at ease about child care, medications, and other issues.
For general information, visit the Epilepsy Foundation’s Web page on Pregnancy Issues or download
the Pregnancy & Parenting brochure (available as a Word document) from the International League Against
Epilepsy.
About TOPAMAX
TOPAMAX is approved as initial monotherapy in patients 10 years of age and older with partial-onset
or primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures.
Effectiveness was demonstrated in a controlled trial in patients with epilepsy who had no more
than 2 seizures in the 3 months prior to enrollment. Safety and effectiveness in patients
who were converted to monotherapy from a previous regimen of other anticonvulsant drugs have not
been established in controlled trials.
TOPAMAX is approved as add-on therapy for patients 2 years of age and older with primary generalized
tonic-clonic seizures, partial-onset seizures, or seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.
Important Safety Information
Serious risks associated with TOPAMAX include lowered bicarbonate levels in the blood resulting in an
increase in the acidity of the blood (metabolic acidosis). Symptoms could include hyperventilation
(rapid, deep breathing), tiredness, loss of appetite, irregular heartbeat or changes in the level of alertness.
Call your doctor immediately if you get these symptoms. Your doctor may want to do simple blood tests. Chronic,
untreated metabolic acidosis may increase the risk for kidney stones or bone disease.
Other serious risks include decreased sweating, increased body temperature, kidney stones, sleepiness,
dizziness, confusion, difficulty concentrating, and increased eye pressure (glaucoma). Call your doctor
immediately if you have any decrease in vision or eye pain. These problems can lead to blindness if not
treated right away.
More common side effects in adults are nervousness, coordination problems, fatigue, speech problems, slowed
thinking, memory difficulty, tingling in arms and legs, and double vision; and in children, fatigue, loss of appetite,
nervousness, memory difficulty, aggressive behavior, and weight loss.
As monotherapy, the most common side effects of TOPAMAX (in the 400 mg/day group and at a rate higher than the 50
mg/day group) in adults were tingling in arms and legs, weight decrease, sleepiness, loss of appetite, dizziness, and
difficulty with memory; and in children, weight decrease, upper respiratory tract infection, tingling in arms and legs,
loss of appetite, diarrhea, and mood problems.
In combination with other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), the most common side effects of TOPAMAX in adults (200 to 400 mg/day)
were sleepiness, dizziness, nervousness, loss of muscle coordination, fatigue, speech disorders and related problems, psychomotor
slowing, abnormal vision, difficulty with memory, tingling in arms and legs, and double vision; and in children (5 to 9 mg/kg/day), fatigue,
sleepiness, loss of appetite, nervousness, difficulty with concentration/attention, difficulty with memory, aggressive reaction, and weight decrease.
Tell your doctor about other medications you take.
Please see full U.S. Prescribing Information.
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This site was last modified on: Jul 26 2007 at 13:45:28 EDT