** What does above part mean?  Did the Doctor (below) say if or why
that last sentence would be related to epilepsy, or is it *while you
take the medications that you get a white substance (in your mouth)?
Most pills say to take them with Food, Milk or Juice, to help with
swallowing them, and to help them dissolve properly in your stomach.

*** Some types of things (like too low blood sugar, or other illnesses
can look like a seizure (epilepsy), and that would be why they might
run an MRI and EEG (below) to see if brain waves look like most types
of seizures. /

**** Most of the pills have to be taken all the time (unless things
change and the *Doctor tells you you can slowly stop taking them.  Do
*not miss doses or stop taking them, as *some types of pills need a
correct rate (number per day) for control, and if they're stopped or
missed, can let the seizure get *worse or come back.
   When you had some of those symptoms above or below, had you Missed
any doses of pills?  *I have never used Epival, that's why I'd rather
you ask the Doctor or the Pharmacy where you get them.    There is a
Pill Glossary under the U.S. Ep. association site at http://efa.org
look for Medications and then scroll to the pill name or type it in
the box (if there is one), and click on Find or Search, and it will
give a 1-page summary of  Side Effects or things to avoid with a Pill
type.
  **Most of the Epilepsy pills are affected by use of alcohol and
some other medicines. /

**** Epilepsy is not a disease.  You can't give it to anyone else or
catch it from them.  It's a medical condition that is best treated,
with a Doctor, as if you don't keep control it can affect safety
traveling or using dangerous equipment, etc.   And you won't be
allowed to drive unless your seizures are fully controlled (if you
want to be able to drive). /

I have to admit that i suffered

*** No,  what that meant was you had a seizure *during the night while
you were asleep.  Did you tell the Doctor that?  If you do (if it
happens again), they *might increase your Night Dose of pills a
little, or add a second pill, and then you will sleep properly and not
have seizures in the night.
  *Lots of us have had night time seizures when we first were
diagnosed,  and seizures are easier to have while we sleep, so it
means they're not controlled (yet) if that still happens.  /

   Most of us have been afraid to go out or be social when we're not
controlling our seizures.  That's why it would help if you told the
Doctor who gives you the pill prescription *if you're still having
these.  It means they're not controlled yet.   But they *can be.
   *I was told to Hope For only 2-3 seizure per month !!   in 1993.
The last 2 seizures I had were December 1997, and June 1998.   I still
take the same pills and same amount now as I was taking in late 1996.
They control the type of seizures I have.
    When they did the MRI and EEG? did they give you a Name for the
Type of seizure you were having?    There are about 5 kinds (names) of
Epilepsy seizures, depending which area in the Brain your seizures are
coming from.  **If you remember that and post it here, or can find
out, Others who read this group might have the same kind and can tell
you some useful things.
    There have not been a lot of posts the last ~3 months.  We had
1-2 trolls disrupting the group (who didn't have seizures),  that made
a lot of people stop posting.  (The trolls are probably offline now--
someone else reported them to their provider. )
    IF the regular posters are still reading the group we had people
in the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand,  North and South America
reading the group.  And some of them didn't read the posts every day,
so you might want to look at the group each day or 2 for 2 weeks or
so.  IF they have a reply they'll post here by then.    If not by 2
weeks, it means they're not reading this group any longer and we've
then *lost some Excellent Helpers who posted very good stuff from 1998
to 2005.

 **IF you can't find an older message (by me) with Subject something
like "Websites I've found Useful" or "Useful Websites" in the Subject
line, let me know (post here) and I'll see if I can find a copy of the
Old Post and **paste it together and ***Repost it here for you.
   It had link to US Ep. Foundation (above link I put), plus about 6
other sites others have posted or that I found on the group.  Some are
First Aid for seizures (both on land and in water/swimming), some were
**symptoms of the different Kinds of seizures (where you might find
the kind you are having if the Pharmacy or Doctor can't tell you),
and *some pills (like ones you are using) are used for a Particular
Type of seizure-- so when you find the Name of your seizure type, it
makes it easier then for you to do e.g. searches for more information
online, etc.
    My timezone is UK - 5 hours, (North America Eastern daylight
time).  But others will see your message from their own timezone and
when they come and read the messages.  Since not a lot of people have
posted for a few weeks, they might not answer before the weekend
or ??  So look at the group as long as it takes to get some replies.
   If you have other questions, you can Post those, and any I have
links to or can answer I can try.  *I'm not a Doctor,  but if I have a
link  I can look it up.
   You could Also try **Search this Group posts**, if you want to
search the Seizure Type (when you know it), OR search e.g. on Epival
in Posts on this group (use Google or whatever you have to do Group
Searches with) -- and all posts about Epival the last 3 or more years
will come up for you to see what others might have talked about before
already.  They might have told if it worked for them or what things to
*not use while taking it.   Stuff like that...    G./