Seizures and Your Menstrual Cycle: What to Track

If you live with epilepsy, you may wonder whether your seizures get more frequent around your cycle. That is not a question you can answer from feeling alone; it needs time. You log every seizure across several cycles and your cycle alongside it, on paper or in the seizure diary in Sam, and take a doctor report as a PDF to the appointment. What either record means for you is for your neurologist to say.

This guide is for you if a doctor has already diagnosed epilepsy. If you only suspect a link, your care team is the next step. Nobody here is judging your pattern for you.

How seizures and your cycle can connect

For some women, seizures become more frequent at certain points in the cycle. Doctors call this catamenial epilepsy. It is not a separate disease. It simply describes that seizure frequency can vary with the cycle. Epilepsy Action says the change may relate to the hormones oestrogen and progesterone.

How common it is is not fully clear. Recent studies suggest it may affect around 4 in 10 women with epilepsy. That number describes groups, not your own course. Whether it applies to you is what the record will help answer.

The three times seizures can cluster

Epilepsy Action describes three times when seizures can increase in catamenial epilepsy. They are the days leading up to and including your period, around the time an egg is released, and after ovulation in what is called the luteal phase. Recent research shows it is still possible to have catamenial epilepsy even if you do not ovulate.

You cannot see your own pattern by guessing. That needs your records over time and your doctor's assessment. If this is all new to you, first weeks after an epilepsy diagnosis walks through what comes next.

What to log over two or three cycles

One cycle says little. Epilepsy Action says catamenial epilepsy may be diagnosed if you have twice as many seizures at similar times of your cycle, usually over about three months. So plan to track for two to three cycles before you draw conclusions.

For each seizure, note when it happened, the type, whether you lost consciousness, and anything you noticed beforehand. Many people remember a seizure poorly, so a note from someone who saw it is valuable. If your periods are irregular, Epilepsy Action notes that it can be harder to track the cycle, and a diary helps you spot any pattern anyway. How to keep the record well is covered in keeping a seizure diary. For everyday symptoms that are not seizures, use the symptom diary in Sam.

Why two separate records make sense

Your seizures belong in the Epilepsy diary. You log each one with time, type, consciousness, injury, suspected trigger and a note. For an entry you make today, Sam adds sleep, HRV and resting heart rate from Apple Health when a value exists.

You track your cycle separately in cycle tracking, where you note period days and how heavy the bleed is. So seizures and cycle stay two records. You place them side by side yourself when you want to look for a link. Sam shows no combined view and works out no pattern. The comparison is yours, and the reading belongs with your doctor. Sleep as a possible trigger is worth logging in the same way.

Take the record to your appointment

The real value of the record shows at the appointment. From the seizure diary, Sam builds a doctor report as a PDF for the period you choose: 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. Your care team sees your seizures across weeks and months instead of following your memory. You still keep the cycle in your own record.

If someone comes with you, that person can help you not to forget anything. A check of questions to ask your neurologist gives you a list for the visit.

When a seizure is an emergency

Most seizures stop on their own. Some need emergency help. The NHS says to call 999 if it is the first time someone has had a seizure, a seizure lasts longer than is usual for them (or longer than 5 minutes if you do not know how long their seizures usually last), they do not recover as usual or have another seizure without recovering in between, or they have had 3 or more seizures in 24 hours. Use your local emergency number (112 in the EU, 999 in the UK, 911 in the US). This is general guidance and does not replace a medical view. When in doubt, contact your care team or the emergency number. Whether an event was a seizure or a faint is a separate question: seizure or fainting.

Track both in Sam and take them as a PDF

You arrive with two records instead of relying on memory: the Epilepsy diary and your cycle from Sam.

• Instead of a paper calendar, you log each seizure with time, type and suspected trigger, and keep your cycle separately.
• Instead of counting by hand, the doctor report as a PDF sums up your seizures for the period you choose.
• Instead of guessing at sleep, today's entries carry sleep, HRV and resting heart rate from Apple Health when a value exists. You enter only what you know yourself.

Sam shows no combined view and works out no link between your seizures and your cycle. Judging that is for your doctor or neurologist.

Try Sam for free

Sam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. The app does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition or health state. Always consult qualified professionals for medical decisions.

Related reading

• Keeping a seizure diary
• Sleep and epilepsy: your triggers
• Questions for your neurologist: a checklist
• Living with epilepsy in daily life

Sources

Updated: October 2026

• Epilepsy Action: Periods and catamenial epilepsy (last modified November 2025)
• NHS: Epilepsy (last reviewed 6 March 2025)
• MedlinePlus, US National Library of Medicine: Epilepsy (last updated 9 January 2026)
• Epilepsy Action: 10 ways to prepare for healthcare appointments (published January 2026)