Dangers and Risks Associated with Epilepsy

Most people with epilepsy live a full and active lives without much impact from epilepsy, however there are two life-threatening conditions for which the epileptic is at special risk:

• Status Epilepticus
• Sudden Unexplained Death

In addition to these specific risks, there are inherent risks to the epileptic such as:

• injury due to blunt force trauma during a seizure.
• accidental injury or death due to seizure in an unsafe environment (such as in water, or while driving).
• women with epilepsy have a higher incidence of birth defects (6-7% occurance in epileptics, versus 3-4% in the general population) in their offspring. there is an increased risk of labor complications such as hemorrhage, eclampsia, and premature labor.