Anxiety and epilepsy at Christmas – extra challenges, recent research and support for you

With Christmas fast approaching, many people with epilepsy might feel more anxiety than anticipation in the run up to the big day.

People can often feel stressed or overwhelmed at this time of year for a number of reasons, including things like money problems, practical challenges and societal pressures. On top of these, people with epilepsy often have added concerns and considerations.

Can they avoid triggers? Will they have enough medication to cover the festive season? Can they curb the stress? Can they avoid alcohol and sleep deprivation?

For Marnie, having epilepsy is a constant worry. She said: “Even though I’ve not had a seizure in a while, and – touch wood – I won’t for a while, it’s always in the back of my head.

“If I feel a bit dizzy, if I feel tired, my brain just automatically goes down that panic route of ‘am I going to have a seizure?’

“It’s something that you live with every day, even if you’re not actively having a seizure.”

Christmas can be a “taxing and challenging time”, Marnie explains.

“There’s things like the work Christmas party. For most people it’s: ‘What outfit am I going to wear?’ ‘What drink am I going to have?’ ‘What friend am I meeting?’

“But when you have epilepsy, it’s: ‘Have I taken my medication?’ ‘Is my emergency information set up on my phone?’ ‘Do my family know where I am?’ ‘Do people know what to do if I were to have a seizure?’

“I feel like you have to put on a happy face, but deep down, you’re worried.”

If this time of year is leaving you feeling stressed and anxious, we have you covered. You can get one of our wellbeing packs full of resources, feel-good activities, access to training and a check in call from our helpline team.

Anxiety and epilepsy

It is common for people with epilepsy to feel anxious. Anxiety can be a normal feeling under stressful or threatening circumstances but can become a problem if it starts to intervene with a person’s daily life.

If anxiety becomes severe, it can be diagnosed as a phobia or a disorder. A review article from Frontiers in Neurology, published in 2022, estimated that around one in five people with epilepsy has anxiety.

A research paper from 2019 found that anxiety can be linked to epilepsy in different ways. Anxiety symptoms can be linked to seizures, happening just before, during or shortly after a seizure. Anxiety disorders are independent of seizures.

Anxiety can also be a side effect of epilepsy medicines or be linked to life with epilepsy, such as anxiety over having a seizure, travel and driving, living alone or medical appointments. It can also be a seizure trigger in some people.

According to the researchers, there are four types of anxiety disorder linked to epilepsy – anticipatory anxiety of epileptic seizures (AAS), seizure phobia, epileptic social phobia and epileptic panic disorder.

AAS is a persistent worry or fear of having another seizure. Research from 2021 found that AAS was present in more than half (53%) of people with drug-resistant focal epilepsy in the study. This was more common in people more recently diagnosed, and these people were more likely to avoid outdoor social situations and had a poorer quality of life.

A different piece of research from 2021, also found that anxiety symptoms affected quality of life, this time in people with temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis. The research found that those with anxiety or depressive symptoms had a poorer quality of life.

A 2021 review of 35 studies concluded that for people with absence seizures, mood disorders like depression and anxiety were more likely. It also found that this was a bi-directional link – meaning people with depression and anxiety were also more likely to have absence seizures than the general population.

There is more information on anxiety and epilepsy on the Epilepsy Action website and you can grab a wellbeing pack to see you through the holidays.