Epilepsy Empowerment Forum

The Forum was held on May 21, 2005, with an in-person, online and telephone audience. Video, audio and print transcripts will be available soon.

Presented by the Epilepsy Foundation and the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona

The Epilepsy Empowerment Forum focused on the following key topics:

Taking Stock of Your Treatment

In order to make sure your treatment is the best it can be, you need to assess how you are doing. Are you experiencing any side effects? Are you able to do day-to-day activities? You need to take stock of your treatment and quality of life, and tell your health care team how you are doing.

Communication and the Health Care Team

Once you take stock, you need to be able to tell your doctor about how you feel and any concerns you may have. As we all know, the time you have with your health care team is not very long. After an appointment with your doctor, you may think of things you wanted to talk about, but forgot – or didn’t feel you knew how to say the right way.

People with epilepsy and doctors are partners who each have their own responsibilities in the health process, and though responsibilities are not the same, both are united by one common goal: to enable the person with epilepsy to experience a good quality of life.

When Standard Treatment is Not Enough

At least half of all people with epilepsy continue to have some seizures despite regular use of seizure preventing medication. Quality of life for people who are still having seizures is reduced in many ways.

When seizures are hard to control with standard medications, there are other kinds of treatment that may help. How do you learn more about the treatment options? How do you talk to your doctor about them?

When people with epilepsy and their caregivers are working well together, through good communication and mutual understanding, the best possible treatment and quality of life can be achieved. The Epilepsy Empowerment Forum is all about helping to reach that goal.

The organizers of the Epilepsy Empowerment Forum would like to thank the following:

• Mayo Clinic Scottsdale
• University of Arizona College of Medicine
• Barrow Neurological Institute
• Epi-Hab
• The sponsors and participants of the 2002 Living Well with Epilepsy II Conference.

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  The Epilepsy Empowerment Forum is sponsored by an educational grant from Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, Inc.