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1.Become familiar with their healthcare team: Getting to know the health care professionals who care for your loved one can be useful when you have questions or concerns. The first appointment at the hospital is likely to be with a Neurologist or an Epilepsy Specialist Nurse (ENS). They're part of a bigger team of healthcare professionals that look after different areas of treatment and care.
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2.Become familiar with their treatment: Learning more about the treatment your loved one is getting can help you to understand how it affects them, the side effects to expect, and how to help with managing them.
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3.Help with their medication: Managing medications can be overwhelming, especially if there are many. Helping your loved one to keep track of their medications can take extra stress off them.
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4.Offer to drive to appointments: Offering to drive them to hospital appointments can help to reduce stress.
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5.Offer to help with household tasks: You could offer to help with household tasks like cleaning, gardening, laundry or grocery shopping.
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6.Share tasks as a group: If there is a group of people supporting your loved one, it can help to share out tasks between you.
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7.Make meals they can freeze: Your loved one may experience extreme tiredness after a seizure and may not feel like cooking. You could save them time and energy by making larger amounts of food and freezing them in meal-size portions, that are easy to defrost and prepare.
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8.Invite their friends over for lunch or a chat:After a seizure a person tends to feel low and lonely. You can help make mealtimes more enjoyable for your loved one by visiting them for lunch and have a chat. If you live with them, you could invite their friends, colleagues or neighbours over instead.
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9.Get vaccinated against the flu and COVID-19: You can protect yourself and your loved one by getting vaccinated for the flu and COVID-19.
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10.Attend appointments when you can: Hospital appointments can be overwhelming as there's often lots to take in. Going with your loved one to their appointment can be reassuring for them. You may be told important information about your loved one's condition and how to support them. You can take notes or record conversations with doctors or nurses, with their consent, to make sure you don't forget anything. You can also ask them any questions you might have. They can tell you about support groups, occupational team, social worker etc available to help.