Hi Tanya. Exercising for me is one of the few things I do routinely to keep my mind off of my epilepsy. It took me a while to come out of denial to realize I could no longer do the level of exercise I did prior to epilepsy. My best advice is related to not overheat your body. This is a main trigger for me. Don't jog or exercise in heat. A suggestion if financially feasible, invest in a Pelaton bike ( I am NOT a sales person ). They even offer a "rental" program now. You can get excellent aerobic work in your air conditioned home. The bike strengthens all leg muscles and some of the Pelaton classes even use light free weights while you're riding. The classes are free. I tore my meniscus in my knee a few years ago. No surgery. Using the Pelaton bike, and starting slow and increasing resistance and cadence over some time, now 2 years later I am able to do aerobic exercise, e.g. walking, slow jogs (out of the heat !) as I did prior to my injury. Essentially, the bike acted as a physical therapist. Be careful of the type of bike in which you may choose to invest. Some can be dangerous. You may wish to read My Story. I welcome further questions.

My best,
Roy Anthony

@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member thank you, I’ll try to follow your advice. Looks like I just can’t go without exercising at least three times a week, and my favorite is Caroline Girvan YouTube channel now

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A MyEpile...

Well, if they are primarily nocturnal, then they are probably no limitation or your daily exercise. Just remember that Epilepsy is a mutating disorder, thus auras, seizures and triggers can change and others can be added naturally by the Epilepsy.

Many years ago, I had a seizure while walking the 3 dogs I had at the time, and the youngest (who also happened to be part greyhound was the one that ran off into the woods. I had never had one before when I was walking the dogs. I brought the pair of dogs who stayed with me home. And I got my sister to come help me to catch the dog (Ruby) who ran off into the woods/swamp. I was lucky to chase her back out towards the street, where my sister was there to grab her leash.

@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member Regardless on the form of exercise, do you do it alone or do you have a workout partner? Back when I was working out in a health center (before I knew I had seizures and even before researchers proved in 1995 that Epileptic partial seizures even existed, my friend and workout partner was noticing me doing unusual things. And I do not recall how long he was ignoring it until I was bench pressing and he was spotting me. And it was the fact that my lips turned blue that scared him enough to share details of all the strange things that he had seen in my (partial seizures). And I asked family members and went to work and asked them too. And I had a list of them. And I went to see a neurologist, however, it was 1992, so he stopped me and asked: do you fall and lose consciousness? And when I said no (I hadn't had a general full seizure since 1984), he diagnosed me with panic attacks and sent me to a psychiatrist. I did learn medication from the therapist who I was assigned to, besides I could also vent to the therapist. It would not be until 1997 that I was finally diagnosed with Epilepsy.

However, I usually have a workout partner -- even when it is cardio from a walk or on the stationary bike. I know there are so many exercises (like swimming) that are much better for burning calories, but I do not have the means.

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A MyEpile...

If you lift weights you have to know your limits because when you have seizures you get a lot stronger than normal because your muscles have a lot to do with seizures you can lose control of them and they can cause you to hurt yourself or someone else if you was to grab them while having a seizure I know my seizures have been so strong that it took 4 or 5 people to hold me down so that they could give me a shot to stop my seizures