Currently Epilepsy Patients are getting ignored by disability services in schools even though seizures alone, as well as the medicine used to control them, can cause learning difficulties such as memory problems, blank outs in class, loss of words, impairing the left side of the brain which helps understand math and science, ADD and ADHD, and also loss of cognitive function. Signing this petition is agreeing that students with Epilepsy shouldn't be ignored!

Epilepsy is a serious neurological condition. Having Epilepsy means that you have been diagnosed with one or more seizure disorders. There are many types of seizures but the most commonly known are Absence Seizures (also known as Petit Mals) and Tonic Clonic Seizures (also known as Grand Mals). When a person has any type of seizure, the neurons in their brain are misfiring and the two sides of their brain are not connecting properly. If this lasts for more than two minutes, the person could suffer memory loss and other types of significant brain damage. When a seizure lasts for 4 minutes or longer, the brain will begin to suffocate and you are at risk to die. 

An Epilepsy Patient went to the disability services office at Northern Michigan University and was told by the head of the office that it was "just epilepsy." When the student asked for a note taker on the days they were not in class because they were in the hospital, the head of the office responded, "No, because you would have to be in class trying to take your own notes to get notes from somebody else. If you had a seizure in class, it would be a special case if you got notes that day, because technically you were not in class." 

Anti-Seizure medications can cause learning difficulties. Topomax is an anti-seizure medication that can cause a loss of cognitive function, loss of words, and it can also damage the left side of your brain making it difficult to comprehend science and math. Anti Seizure Medications can also cause problems sleeping and cause a loss of concentration (these include Lamictal, Zonegran, and Vimpat). Vimpat also causes nausea, irregular heart rhythm, and memory problems.

The medicine listed above are not the only medication out there- they are also not the only anti-seizure medications that cause learning disabilities.

40% of Epilepsy Patients- particularly children- also have ADD or ADHD, but wouldn't have known because they blame Absence Seizures for not being able to concentrate.

While doctors will try to find a medication to control seizures in a patient and not have any negative side effects, their primary goal is to control the seizures. Many Epilepsy patients are in tutoring or even special education courses because of the negative side effects of the medication they are taking to control their seizures. 

Read: http://www.epilepsyinfo.org/besmart/download/BeSmart.pdf

Or go to:  http://www.epilepsymichigan.org/page.php?id=358

Or: epilepsy.com for more information.