Discussing Your Medical History
Talking about a seizure that had occurred before visiting your doctor can go a long way in diagnosing epilepsy. Information about the things that happened before and after the seizures are important tools needed for diagnosis. Sometimes when a seizure occurs, you might forget the series of events that took place before and after the seizure. So when you visit your doctor, you should take someone that observed everything that happened to you when you were seizing.
The following questions can be asked by your doctor about what you experienced during seizures:
- Were your muscles stiff when you were seizing?
- Did you pee on yourself or lose control of your bowel movement during a seizure?
- Did you have any issues with breathing during a seizure?
- Were you conscious during the seizure?
- Did you notice any change in your skin color?
- Did you take any medication after the seizure or what medication were you on before the seizure?
- What is the duration of the seizure?
- Did you have a problem with speech or understanding things said to you?
Providing answers to the above questions will help your doctor during the diagnostic process. Reports about family members who have been diagnosed with epilepsy can also be very useful. The major symptom of epilepsy is seizures.