Alcohol
Having epilepsy and taking anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) doesn’t have to mean that you can’t drink alcohol. But there are good reasons why you might choose to limit how much alcohol you drink. You might even choose not to drink alcohol at all.
Alcohol can make the side-effects of some AEDs worse. If your AEDs already make you feel sleepy, dizzy or light-headed, alcohol can make this worse.
Taking AEDs can also make you get drunk much quicker than your friends, even though you drink the same amount. This can leave you feeling out of control. You might slur your words, lose your balance and vomit.
Drinking a lot, or binge drinking, can cause you to have ‘withdrawal seizures’. These seizures may start between 7-72 hours after you’ve stopping drinking.
Drinking alcohol can mean you forget to do things like taking your AEDs. It can also lead to missing meals and not getting a good night’s sleep. All of these things will mean you’re far more likely to have a seizure.
Most people with epilepsy can have a couple of drinks without it triggering a seizure. But everyone is different, and some people find even a small amount of alcohol is a problem.
Drugs
Drugs can be a mixture of many different ingredients. There’s no way of knowing exactly what’s in them. Seizures might be triggered by the drug itself or by those ‘unknown ingredients’.
Taking drugs can lead to other problems, such as not getting enough sleep, getting dehydrated, not eating or forgetting to take anti-epileptic drugs. Any of these things can make you more likely to have seizures.