Mother’s Day is May 12th – Tips for Mothers with Epilepsy
Mother’s Day is May 12th and the BC Epilepsy Society wanted to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there who are living with epilepsy!
Sometimes, looking after a child can be difficult and having epilepsy can often make this even harder. Mothers with epilepsy often face challenges, not just from their epilepsy, but also from their responsibilities as a parent.
However, if you are a mother with epilepsy, don’t let the above discourage you! You can check out our information sheet entitled Parenting Concerns for the Mother with Epilepsy for more information. For our tips for mothers with epilepsy, please see below:
Take Precautions:
- What precautions you need to take depends on a number of factors; for example, a mother with epilepsy who has frequent seizures without warning may need to take more precautions than a mother with epilepsy who has very well controlled seizures or who experiences a warning prior to a seizure
- Ways to take precautions can include ensuring that help is nearby or doing things like postponing cooking or ironing until your child is napping to reduce the risk of injury
- Check out our information sheet entitled Seizures and Your Safety for more details
Comply to Treatments:
- Missed medication is one of the main triggers for seizures
- It is important that you take your medications and/or any other treatments for your epilepsy regularly, on time and as prescribed by your neurologist to reduce the risk of seizures
Get Enough Sleep:
- Sleep deprivation is one of the main triggers for seizures
- Try to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night to reduce the risk of seizures
- Check out our information sheet entitled Seizures and Sleep for more details
Take Good Care of Yourself:
- The best thing that you can do both for your children and for yourself is to ensure that you are taking care of yourself
- It can be easy to forgo taking care of yourself when caring for children but doing so is important to reduce the risk of seizures
- Try doing things exercising regularly and eating a healthy balanced diet as research has shown that this has an impact on seizure control
Stress Management:
- Although parenting can sometimes be stressful, it is important to keep your stress levels under control to reduce the risk of seizures
- Check out our information sheet entitled Stress Management for more details
- You can also check out one of our support groups to seek out support, share your experiences and get help from others going through similar situations
Explaining Your Epilepsy:
- If your child witnesses a seizure occurring without warning, they may not understand what is happening and may be frightened
- It is important to explain your epilepsy to your child as early as possible, adding more information as they grow older
- Check out our information sheet entitled When Mom or Dad Has Epilepsy for more details
We hope that the information in this blog is useful for mothers with epilepsy! We also recently held the I AM A VOICE for Epilepsy Awareness Expo where Leena Yousefi from YLaw Group did a presentation on the parental rights of parents with epilepsy. A video of her presentation will be uploaded to our website, YouTube channel and social media platforms soon, so be sure to keep an eye out for that!
Happy Mother’s Day everyone! For our Mother’s Day article on mothers of children with epilepsy, please click here.