Resources - Epilepsy Foundation of Idaho

What the EF Podcast: A place to share, cry, and laugh at all our epilepsy WTF moments. New episode every Tuesday!

Women with Epilepsy by Martha J. Morrell. In this handbook for sufferers, their clinicians, families and friends, Martha Morrell assembles a team of experts to review the special problems faced by women with epilepsy. In many ways epilepsy is a different disease in women than in men, given the biological and gender differences between the two. Epilepsy treatments affect fertility, and can cause pregnancy complications and birth defects, but most of the available drugs have been tested on men. Moreover, hormone effects on seizures are of particular concern to women at puberty, at menopause, and over the menstrual cycle. Many health-care providers are not informed about the unique issues facing women with epilepsy. This book, published in association with the Epilepsy Foundation of America, fills that gap and provides women with epilepsy with the information they need to be effective self-advocates.

Life Challenges with a Smile is a book written by EFI participant Kailee Kuisti, who writes of her life’s journey with epilepsy, seizures and brain surgery.

Mighty Mike Bounces Back written by “Mighty Mike” Simmel, who uses basketball to deliver a positive message of dealing with life’s challenges, including life with epilepsy. Included is an extensive kid-friendly resource section.

Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar–Your Brain’s Silent Killers by David Perlmutter | Groundbreaking and timely, Grain Brain shows that the fate of your brain is not in your genes. It’s in the food you eat.

She Danced with Lightning: My Daughter’s Struggle with Epilepsy and Her Boundless Will to Live by Marc Palmeiri | Part family memoir, part medical mystery involving severe epilepsy, She Danced with Lightning follows one girl’s battle to persevere as a competitive dancer, culminating in a terrifying decline, a courageous performance, and an eleventh hour, life-saving brain surgery.

In Praise of Paths: Walking through Time and Nature by Torbjørn Ekelund | Torbjørn Ekelund started to walk—everywhere—after an epilepsy diagnosis affected his ability to drive. The more he ventured out, the more he came to love the act of walking, and an interest in paths emerged. In this poignant, meandering book, Ekelund interweaves the literature and history of paths with his own stories from the trail.

In My Right Mind: My Life with Epilepsy by Amy Crane | In My Right Mind is a story of a woman’s experience living with epilepsy in her childhood and young adult years. Amy had complex partial and grand mal seizures, those seizures that are difficult to control by medication. Amy went on to college to pursue a teaching degree, although she continued to have seizures on a regular basis. She faced physical, emotional, and spiritual trials while trying to keep up with the academic requirements of her degree program.

Under the Lights – An Award-Winning Epilepsy Film | Desperate to feel ‘normal’, Under the Lights is the award winning story of a boy with epilepsy who goes to prom knowing that the lights will make him have a seizure.