Travelling with epilepsy

Having epilepsy does not mean that you cannot travel and experience new places, you will just need to plan more carefully and make some allowances to keep yourself safe.

Medication

Travelling

Make sure you have enough of your medication to last your whole trip. In case you are delayed getting home for any reason make sure you have more than you need. Speak to your doctor before you go away about writing you a prescription to make sure you have enough medicine. If crossing time zones also try to make sure you take your anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) at the right time, you can talk to your doctor about how best to manage this.

Always check if you need any special paperwork to travel with your medicine, this will help to avoid problems at customs. It is also important to make sure you have the correct travel insurance that would cover anything that may relate to your epilepsy.

Check you can store your medicine correctly while you travel. If you need any vaccinations or anti-malaria medication speak to your doctor to make sure they don’t interact with your AEDs.

Flying with epilepsy

If you are flying check if you need medical clearance. If you have had a tonic-clonic seizure less than 24 hours before your flight, you will need medical clearance to be allowed to fly. If your seizures are generally well controlled, you should not usually need medical clearance. Also, consider wearing identity jewellery or carry an epilepsy ID card or letting the airline staff know in case someone needs to help you.