Practical Tips for Parents of Children who Take Seizure Medication

Important Tips to Remember:

• Keep all medications up and away from young children. Some seizure medications are very dangerous if children take an overdose.

• Create a reminder system for medications. From pill boxes to smartphone reminders, there are many techniques to help you and your child remember to take medication.

• Do not run out of medications. Request drug refills several days before your child's seizure medications will run out. Depending on the medication, special insurance approval may be needed for a refill to be completed.
  

• Discuss with your doctor what to do if your child misses a dose. All epilepsy patients miss medication doses at some point. Depending on the seizure medication, it may be okay to take two doses close together or it may not be.

• Talk with teachers, school nurses, child care workers, and other caregivers about your child's seizures. Caretakers should know the details of your child's seizures, including what seizures look like, how long seizures typically last, whether or not your child has to be taken to the hospital after a seizure, and any rescue medications needed to make seizures stop.

• If rescue medications are prescribed, your child's school or child care needs access to these medications. Make sure they are trained to administer the rescue medicine, and have access to your child's seizure action plan.

• Be honest about how often your child misses taking seizure medicine and how often they have seizures. Your child's doctor cannot make good decisions about how to prescribe seizure medications if they do not have correct information. Be honest with your child's doctor!

• Allow your older child to transition to being responsible for taking seizure medicine. Some children with epilepsy continue to have seizures into adulthood. Allowing your child to take an active part in treatment, from an early age, helps later as a teenager becomes a young adult. Some ways to start making this transition include having your teen fill pill boxes, set reminder alarms, and make calls to request medication refills.