I attend the Epilepsy Education Conference at University of San Diego every year in July. People who attend are adults with epilepsy, parents of children with epilepsy, teens and seniors, caregivers, family members, medical professionals, teachers, school personnel and the community. You have the opportunity to attend educational sessions and learn about new brain research, emerging technologies, treatment options, medication and therapies on how to manage seizures.
What I like about this event is that I have more time to ask more questions about this seizure disorder. I also love meeting with others living with epilepsy so we can share our stories and struggles.
Here are the topics that were discussed:
- Overview of Seizures in Children: Seizures, epilepsy, diagnosis and therapies
- Overview of Seizures in Adults: Definition of epilepsy, evaluation and treatments
- Special Issues for Women with Epilepsy: Menstrual cycle effects on seizures; Contraception; Pregnancy and beyond
- Neurostimulation and Therapy for Epilepsy: The use of neurostimulation devices for the treatment of epilepsy
- Thinking and Feeling in Epilepsy: Memory, thinking, mood, anxiety issues for persons with epilepsy – what’s new and what’s old
- Epilepsy and the Autism Connection: Challenges unique to persons with epilepsy who have intellectual disabilities or autism
- Legal Issues for People with Epilepsy: Work, divorce, criminal justice, school, driving, access to medications
- Food and Epilepsy: Dietary Therapies, LGIT, Atkins, and Ketogenic diets
- Genetic Testing: Genetic testing in epilepsy, when and how testing is performed, and what types of genetic testing results are likely to come back
- Surgery for Epilepsy: Indications, Evaluation, Procedures, and Outcomes
- Medications for Seizures: Updates on new medications and recent statistics
- Head Trauma and Epilepsy
- Epilepsy Encephalopathies
- Teen Tracks: A panel of young adults ready to discuss growing up with epilepsy, transitioning to adulthood, and independence.
There was a CBD Update at lunch time and this was sponsored by Greenwich Biocienses. This was to promote their CBD drug that is the first CBD drug to be prescribed by Doctors.
All the Sponsors are Pharmaceutical companies and brain devices. Like I get it, you need to run a business, sell your drug and of course contribute to this event. But, me having drug resistant epilepsy, I don’t want to look at another drug. I sure don’t want Neuropace to be selling me on getting a device implemented in my skull to monitor seizures. I have mixed reviews about each Sponsor.
Click the link to learn more about the Sponsors below:
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