Traveling With Epilepsy?

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Hi There! Currently I am staying in Barcelona, Spain as a travel companion for my little brother, who has had Epilepsy since he was 1 year old. He's on medication, Lamictal and Zonisamide, but he's been having breakthrough seizures recently, about three in the past two months. Everything on our flights went fine, no issues, but after breakfast this morning he had a brief tonic clonic seizure lasting about two minutes. I want to chalk it up to jet lag, as we took an overnight flight from Philadelphia to London and then another flight to Barcelona. Overall, we left at 1pm EST and arrived at our hotel 5pm Barcelona time the next day, so with time zone changes, thats over 24 hours of travel. I keep asking if he's tired, but he keeps saying that he slept enough and wasn't tired. I want to say that this is probably what caused it as I have been extra diligent to make sure he is taking his medication and eating balanced meals. We are staying in separate rooms (his request) so I can't confirm he got a lot of sleep. We did have about 24 hours of travel, which left even me exhausted, so I can understand if that had an effect on him. My questions for you: How do you manage Epilepsy when traveling abroad, especially on international trips where you have crossed over several time zones? We are in a tour group, and they are aware of his condition, so I can always request that we be left out of activities or choose to remain behind at the hotel. I want to approach this in a way that he doesn't feel embarrassed about having to sit things out due to lack of sleep or stress. Is there a way to approach situations like this?

Comments

Hi, Thank you for posting and

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2020-01-08 - 10:34

Hi, Thank you for posting and we understand your concerns. We cannot determine lack of sleep contributed to his most recent seizure or not, but it’s important that you are helping to ensure he is getting adequate rest, taking his medications as prescribed and eating balanced meals. For some people living with epilepsy things such as, poor quality, or lack of sleep can be a trigger. For additional information regarding triggers, visit: https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/triggers-seizuresYou all may want to consider keeping a journal or diary. My Seizure Diary: https://www.epilepsy.com/living-epilepsy/epilepsy-foundation-my-seizure-diaryis a great tool for identifying & tracking seizures, setting reminders,managing medications & side effects, recording medical history, moods, behaviors, triggers,and other personal experiences, that may affect seizures and wellness, which can be shared with his healthcare team. Creating and having a seizure response or action plan can be helpful to organize information about your brother and his seizures in one place, so you can have it with you at all times. It's especially important to have this with you all while traveling away from home, since others may not know what is going on or how to help. Your brother may want to consider sharing this plan with the tour group you’re on, so they can help you respond if he has another seizure. Seizure Response Plans can be updated easily to include the latest information about his seizure management. https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/managing-your-epilepsy/adapting-plans-travel/using-seizure-plans-and-other-resourcesTalk with your brother open and honestly about your concerns and how your feeling. Additionally, it may be helpful to review our section on adapting plans for travel together, to help tailor your travel plans, teach others how to respond to his seizures safely and appropriately, prevent seizure emergencies, stay safe, and have fun during your travels. https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/managing-your-epilepsy/adapting-plans-travel

Hi, Thank you for posting and we understand your concerns. We cannot determine lack of sleep contributed to his most recent seizure or not, but it’s important that you are helping to ensure he is getting adequate rest, taking his medications as prescribed and eating balanced meals. For some people living with epilepsy things such as, poor quality, or lack of sleep can be a trigger. For additional information regarding triggers, visit: https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/triggers-seizuresYou all may want to consider keeping a journal or diary. My Seizure Diary: https://www.epilepsy.com/living-epilepsy/epilepsy-foundation-my-seizure-diaryis a great tool for identifying & tracking seizures, setting reminders,managing medications & side effects, recording medical history, moods, behaviors, triggers,and other personal experiences, that may affect seizures and wellness, which can be shared with his healthcare team. Creating and having a seizure response or action plan can be helpful to organize information about your brother and his seizures in one place, so you can have it with you at all times. It's especially important to have this with you all while traveling away from home, since others may not know what is going on or how to help. Your brother may want to consider sharing this plan with the tour group you’re on, so they can help you respond if he has another seizure. Seizure Response Plans can be updated easily to include the latest information about his seizure management. https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/managing-your-epilepsy/adapting-plans-travel/using-seizure-plans-and-other-resourcesTalk with your brother open and honestly about your concerns and how your feeling. Additionally, it may be helpful to review our section on adapting plans for travel together, to help tailor your travel plans, teach others how to respond to his seizures safely and appropriately, prevent seizure emergencies, stay safe, and have fun during your travels. https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/managing-your-epilepsy/adapting-plans-travel

Hi, Thank you for posting and we understand your concerns. We cannot determine lack of sleep contributed to his most recent seizure or not, but it’s important that you are helping to ensure he is getting adequate rest, taking his medications as prescribed and eating balanced meals. For some people living with epilepsy things such as, poor quality, or lack of sleep can be a trigger. For additional information regarding triggers, visit: https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/triggers-seizuresYou all may want to consider keeping a journal or diary. My Seizure Diary: https://www.epilepsy.com/living-epilepsy/epilepsy-foundation-my-seizure-diaryis a great tool for identifying & tracking seizures, setting reminders,managing medications & side effects, recording medical history, moods, behaviors, triggers,and other personal experiences, that may affect seizures and wellness, which can be shared with his healthcare team. Creating and having a seizure response or action plan can be helpful to organize information about your brother and his seizures in one place, so you can have it with you at all times. It's especially important to have this with you all while traveling away from home, since others may not know what is going on or how to help. Your brother may want to consider sharing this plan with the tour group you’re on, so they can help you respond if he has another seizure. Seizure Response Plans can be updated easily to include the latest information about his seizure management. https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/managing-your-epilepsy/adapting-plans-travel/using-seizure-plans-and-other-resourcesTalk with your brother open and honestly about your concerns and how your feeling. Additionally, it may be helpful to review our section on adapting plans for travel together, to help tailor your travel plans, teach others how to respond to his seizures safely and appropriately, prevent seizure emergencies, stay safe, and have fun during your travels. https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/managing-your-epilepsy/adapting-plans-travel

Traveling With Epilepsy?

Comments

Hi, Thank you for posting and

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2020-01-08 - 10:34

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