Living with Epilepsy
Take care of your epilepsy.
Sam keeps your seizure diary, sleep and medication intake in one place. You take the log to your next appointment.
Step by step: where seizures start, how nerve cells signal without a seizure, what changes during one and how seizures show.
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a disease of the brain with a lasting tendency to have seizures. It can affect people of any age.
Brain
A human figure, seen from the front at an angle. The view moves towards the head, where the cerebrum, the large upper part of the brain, turns a soft indigo. The cerebellum at the back of the head stays grey. Nothing moves or flashes.
Nerve cells
Normally, nerve cells in the brain pass electrical and chemical signals to one another. These signals produce thoughts, feelings and actions.
Temporal lobe / Cerebral cortex
Side view of the head from the left. Both halves of the brain stay evenly indigo and still; the cerebellum recedes. Labels mark the cerebral cortex and the temporal lobe at the side of the brain.
In a seizure
During a seizure, groups of nerve cells become overactive or fire in step with one another. Focal seizures start in one half of the brain, as in this example; generalised seizures quickly involve both halves.
Seizure activity
Same side view, slightly lower. A darker indigo ring spreads slowly outward from the left temporal lobe over part of the left half of the brain, as one example of a focal seizure; the animation repeats every ten seconds. The rest of the brain stays unchanged. Nothing flashes.
Day to day
A seizure's signs depend on where it starts and how far it spreads. Examples are brief blank spells, unusual feelings, twitching, or loss of consciousness with stiffening and jerking. If a seizure lasts over 5 minutes, call emergency services.
Worth discussing with your doctor.
The view pulls back to the whole figure. The brain returns to a neutral grey. Nothing moves.
Own simplified illustration based on the sources above.
The model shows the cerebral cortex and, for orientation, the cerebellum. The hippocampus and other deeper structures, the brainstem, nerve cells and their connections are not shown. The indigo colour marks the cerebrum as a location; it does not show where epilepsy is. Seizure activity cannot be seen on the brain; it can be recorded with an EEG. The darker ring is a stylised marker for one example of a focal seizure starting in the left temporal lobe; seizures differ in where they start and how far they spread. The ring repeats slowly so it can be followed; it does not show the speed or rhythm of real seizure activity. Adult male reference model; close-ups are not to scale.
What Sam keeps for you
For people living with epilepsy who want a record for their appointments. Sam is not a medical device. It keeps what you and your wearable already produce and puts it in one place.
On the program home, Sam shows your latest measured sleep and resting heart rate next to your own average. A new entry logged today also gets sleep, HRV and resting heart rate from Apple Health, where Apple Health has values. Backdated entries get none. Sam makes no prediction from them.
Sam reminds you at your scheduled times to take your medication, and you check off each dose as Taken, Adjusted, or Skipped. You enter one medication with its dose and times, exactly as prescribed. Reminders cover scheduled daily doses only, not as-needed medication. Sam gives no dosing advice.
Log each seizure with date and time and pick the type (names follow the ILAE classification): focal aware, focal impaired awareness, tonic-clonic, absence or not sure. Add whether you lost consciousness, any injury, whether someone saw it, a suspected trigger and a note. A new entry logged today gets sleep, HRV and resting heart rate as context.
Once a month, Sam asks the NDDI-E, a short six-item questionnaire about the last two weeks. It was developed as a screen for depressive symptoms in epilepsy and is not a diagnosis. It takes a couple of minutes and gives you a consistent check-in to bring to your neurologist.
One of the six questions in the monthly check-in is about thoughts of suicide. If you answer sometimes or more often, Sam shows crisis-line numbers in the same session. The program home always carries the line "Self-tracked data, not a diagnosis. In an emergency, call 112." (112 is the EU emergency number; use your local one elsewhere.) It also says that Sam does not detect seizures and that an empty diary never means there was no seizure.
All of it can go into one doctor report as a PDF for your appointment.
Every Medical Program has its own doctor report as a PDF. You choose the period it covers and can share the report.
Sam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. The app does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness and does not replace medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical decisions.
Brain activity is outside what a smartwatch can record. Sam keeps what you log and what your Watch produces.
Doctor report (PDF)
Sam puts your seizure log together as a PDF for your neurologist. You choose the period the visit should cover: 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, or the whole record.
Doctor report: epilepsy
Sample viewReport covers
At a glance
4
Seizures in the period
23
Days since the last logged seizure
27 of 28
Scheduled doses taken
Seizures per month
The current month is not included.
Medication taken, last 30 days
Dose taken
Seizures and medication
Diary
03 May, 02:10
Focal impaired awareness - witnessed - sleep 5 h 10, HRV 41 ms, resting heart rate 62 bpm
19 Apr, 16:45
Absence - sleep 6 h 20, HRV 47 ms, resting heart rate 60 bpm
Self-tracked data, not a diagnosis.
Sam shows your values next to your entries. What they mean is something to talk through with your doctor.
You ask a question, Sam answers with your own numbers. For example:
The monthly report sums up your weeks - for appointments, applications, or simply your own record.
Monthly Report - June
Your Health Overview
Sleep
Stress level
Example values. Your report is based on your own data.
Further reading: what wearable data can show about everyday life with Epilepsy - and where its limits are.
Epilepsy diagnosed, what now? Which tests and appointments follow, how a witness describes your seizure and what to record from day one.
Learn how sleep, stress, and daily routines affect seizure frequency. Discover practical strategies for tracking triggers and working with your neurologist.
Printable seizure calendar or an app? Which fields clinic templates ask for, and what Sam records for seizures, doses and the neurologist report.
Seizure or fainting? What the ESC guideline, NHS and Epilepsy Action describe, what to write down, and what only your doctor can decide.
Sleep deprivation is one of the strongest seizure triggers. Learn to track your sleep and identify your personal risk patterns for better doctor appointments.
That is not something Sam does: Sam does not detect seizures. Apps from other companies advertise seizure detection with the Apple Watch. Whether anything like that suits you is a question for your neurologist. In Sam you log seizures yourself, and Sam shows sleep, resting heart rate and HRV from Apple Health as context.
No. Sam does not detect seizures and does not predict them. A seizure is in your diary only if you log it, so an empty diary never means there was no seizure. Sam shows your sleep, resting heart rate and HRV as plain numbers. What they mean for you is for your neurologist to judge.
For some people with epilepsy, flickering light can trigger a seizure; occasionally too little sleep, alcohol or, mainly in children, high fever can. In a survey of 104 adults at one epilepsy clinic, stress, sleep deprivation and fatigue were reported most often (Ferlisi and Shorvon, 2014). In Sam you note a suspected trigger per seizure.
Ask your neurologist what they want to see. Patient information from health institutes notes that for diagnosis it matters when and under what circumstances a seizure happened, and that people often remember a seizure poorly. In Sam you log time, type, loss of consciousness, injury, whether someone saw it, a suspected trigger and a note.
No. Sam is a diary, not a treatment, and it does not prevent seizures. Your neurologist plans any seizure-preventing medication with you. Sam reminds you at the dose times you set and keeps your diary, so you have your own record to bring to appointments.
Sam cannot help in the moment: it is a diary you fill in afterwards and it does not detect seizures. For what to do during a seizure, see the first-aid pages of your national epilepsy organisation (for example the Epilepsy Foundation in the US or Epilepsy Action in the UK) and ask your neurologist about an emergency plan.
No. Epilepsy has many forms and causes, and the course differs. Some people have a single seizure, others live with epilepsy long term, and about 3 in 10 still have regular seizures despite treatment. Your neurologist knows your type and plan. In Sam you log your own seizures, so you have your own record to discuss.
It serves the same purpose. You log each seizure with date, time and type, plus loss of consciousness, injury, whether someone saw it, a suspected trigger and a note. Sam shows seizures per month, the seizure days of the current month and a month calendar. For entries logged today, sleep, HRV and resting heart rate are added.
Yes, with medication reminders at the times you set. You enter one medication with its dose and times and mark each dose as taken, adjusted or skipped. Reminders cover scheduled daily doses, not as-needed medication. Sam gives no dosing advice: your doctor sets the plan.
You choose the period: 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, or everything. Among other things the doctor report shows seizures per month, by type and how many began at night (between 21:00 and 06:00), the doses taken as scheduled, the last 30 days and up to 30 entries. It notes that an empty log does not mean no seizures occurred.
Sam assesses neither fitness to drive nor entitlements. Rules differ by country and state, but in general people with seizures are not considered fit to drive while a significant risk of further seizures remains; exceptions follow official guidelines. Discuss it with your treating doctor. Disability status and benefits are likewise decided by the authorities in your country.
Epilepsy, migraine, blood pressure, panic disorder, asthma, hay fever, acid reflux and gout are separate programs, each with its own log, monthly questionnaire and doctor report. There is no combined report. How two programs run side by side is described for epilepsy and migraine.
Download Sam for free, connect Apple Health, and see what your data says about everyday life with Epilepsy - compared to your own baseline.
Sam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. Sam does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness and does not replace medical advice. For health questions or concerns, always consult a qualified medical professional.