One of the first reports has come out about people with seizures and epilepsy risks of drowning. The medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology reported in their August 19, 2008, issue of Neurology reported exactly how much risk people who have seizures actually have of drowning.

Researchers compared the number of people that die each year who suffer from seizures with the general population by examining and compiling information from population registries and 50 case studies of people with who suffer from seizures.

A company called UCB, or The Epilepsy Company (TM), has awarded over 500,000 dollars to people, caregivers, and families of people who suffer from seizures since 2005.

The company awarded 150,000 dollars in UCB Family Epilepsy Scholarships for epilepsy to 31 people on December 7, 2008 in Seattle, Washington. The UCB Family Epilepsy Scholarship was awarded to 21 people who suffer from seizures and 10 caregivers or family members. These people were selected from 588 applicants and were chosen based upon an application, personal essay and letters of recommendation.

Typically if an infant were to develop seizures, they are most likely to occur between 4 to 8 months of age. Spasms that result from the seizures can range from mild to severe. As a form of treatment, researchers are not suggesting drugs be used as the first method of treatment for infant epilepsy, but rather dietary intervention. Researchers have found that changing a baby's diet can effectively eliminate spasms.

Our 11 year old son Jacob has been diagnosed with medically intractable epilepsy. (Complex Partials) He has been having seizures for about three years and is now 11 years old. We have been on three different medications starting with Lamical, Trileptal and now a Keppra /Dilantin combo without sucess.

Experts have just met in July to review evidence that anti-seizure medications may put patients at a higher risk of suicide and suicidal ideation (persistent thoughts of suicide). The hope is that they will concur with the belief that these medications should carry the FDA’s highest ‘Black Box’ warning label.

Having seizures at school can be a daunting experience for the child and parent, as well as teachers and other classmates.  Yet through education about epilepsy at school, the negative stigma that arises from fear of the disease can be dissolved, enabling a positive learning experience for all concerned. 

April 28th to July 16th, Glenn Fenster undertook an epic bike ride from Denver to Miami to raise funds for epilepsy research and charities. He also aimed to raise awareness of epilepsy along the way. What you may ask would drive anyone to do this? The answer is very simple. His passion is driven by the fact that like so many parents, his son Nyle was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Advice and information about epilepsy is now available to people in the UK at the touch of a button.  The charity, Epilepsy Action, is providing a new text service for helpline users, allowing them to send their questions by SMS text message at any time of the day, 7 days a week. 

Doctor’s have a huge amount of power over the degree of information they choose to give parents. Some may argue that they can only give what is appropriate and to overload a parent with information causes more harm than good.

Physicians at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Stanford have discovered they can pinpoint the cause of children’s seizures by using hypnosis.  Finding out the reason why a child is seizing is essential for diagnosis and treatment and this groundbreaking discovery could help provide a more accurate and much faster diagnosis.