If you are still having seizures or more than minimal side-effects from your anticonvulsant medication, then you have unfinished business. The holy grail of seizure management is to stop them entirely, and to do so without significant side-effects from treatment used to stop them.

Continuing seizure activity is not good for either brain or body. When seizures have not been stopped, seizures you're still having might change brain in a way that makes it easier for future seizures to occur. Also, people with uncontrolled seizures are more likely to fall and hurt themselves than people without seizures. Moreover, driving a car will probably not be feasible until seizures have been stopped.

2. Don't blab.

Your medical information is confidential, and you should play your medical cards close to your chest. Don't volunteer information to non-medical people who don't need to have it. Once information is out, you have no control over how it is used or mis-used. Unfortunately, some individuals still have backwards ideas and attitudes about epilepsy. Don't give them an opening to mess with your life.

3. Don't lie.

If others have a legitimate need to know about your epilepsy, you should stick to truth, though you shouldn't necessarily add information that is not requested. People with a "need to know" might include your employer, your insurer and Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Here is an example of one of many reasons you shouldn't lie: Suppose you're driver of a car involved in an accident. If you lied to your insurance company about your epilepsy, they might refuse to pay based on your fraudulent application, whether you had a seizure or not!

One escape clause is that if you have had just one lifetime seizure, then it is medically correct to say you don't have epilepsy. A minimum of two seizures is required to establish diagnosis of epilepsy.

4. Take your medication regularly.

The best medicine in world won't work if you don't take it properly. I have greatest sympathy for people who need to take medication for seizures. When I miss a dose of my antihistamine, only consequence is that my nose runs, but people who miss a dose of seizure medication might pay for it with a seizure.

However, assuming you're human, at some point or another you'll screw up and forget a dose. Work out a plan with your doctor for what to do when that happens.

5. Don't fixate on drug blood-levels.

Don't confuse a tool with a goal. The goal is to have no seizures and no side-effects, not to produce a certain number on a laboratory report. In selected situations, drug blood-levels can be useful tools, but sometimes patient, doctor, or both, get fixated on them and lose sight of big picture.

Realistically, stress is a "good" thing, and like anything else, human body can only be exposed to it in moderation. Certain types of stress can be inspiring and can motivate people. It can create new opportunities for learning. Actually, creating a new outcome, just like in nature. For example, it's stress of heat, pressure, and time which turns coal into a diamond.

The hustle and bustle of an environment affects chemicals in our bodies, which help us to rise to occasion, and help us by becoming more effective and productive. The challenge arises when "hustle and bustle" becomes a way of life. When our body is exposed to these chemicals constantly over a period of time, our physical structure can actually become harmed, ultimately affecting both our physical, emotional and mental health. Having pressure in your life will not kill you. The problem is when there is no time allowed for relaxing, and getting away from a stressful situation.