SeizAlarm

I chose this app because it seemed like the best one for tracking seizures overnight. (Many are for monitoring but you have to start the minute when you have an aura, which I don’t have.) Unfortunately the battery would barely make it through an entire night. I would charge to 100% at midnight & wake up at 6am with 8% left & the app off. When I emailed - multiple times!!! - I was told to turn off all background app refresh settings. I was also told to turn off heart rate monitor - which the app is supposed to monitor. I was also told to turn off wifi - which was how the gps works, which is also part of the app. Doing all that, got me *still* barely 8 hours. And on top of all that, the connection to the phone - part of the app - would also drain the phone battery. I woke up a few times with an almost dead watch & an almost dead phone & the app off. The whole point - for me - was sleep monitoring & the app couldn’t do it. Honestly I don’t even know if it works. It only ever went off once on its own (not a test) & I was washing my hands. So I don’t know if I ever had a seizure. Did I not or did it not catch it? No idea.

This is a long review, but I am so fortunate to have SeizAlarm in my life. I am a 29 year old with an epilepsy diagnosis that came out of nowhere at the age of 20, with no family history. It was all new to me and my family. I refuse to let it stop me from being independent in every way possible, but I have to rely on certain things like public transportation to get certain necessities and I am often alone at home, at work, or walking outside. I recently moved closer to home, but I lived in New York City for 6 years. SeizAlarm offers a sense of security, and utilizing it on my AppleWatch turns it into a potential life saving device. Riding the subway or walking on the streets of Manhattan/Brooklyn have been very dangerous for me with my health concerns, but this product gave me some reassurance that I could alert someone and get help from those around me if necessary. SeizAlarm gives me and my family (especially my parents) some relief with the features it offers. It notifies them if I fall or if I’m having a seizure, sending the GPS coordinates, etc. so they know to contact me - which is also a nice check in. Even though they might not be local, they know where I had an “episode” and they can contact my nearby family/friends to get to me and make sure the emergency services are in the right place too. It may seem pricey, but in my HONEST opinion, it’s a worthwhile investment to know I can get help if I’m alone and in need.

This has saved my life more than once so far. Once with a series of seizures originally starting as focal aware seizures so the app goes off but I can dismiss it but then after around 15-20 I had a tonic clonic and was rushed to hospital. I had a number of tonic clonic seizures in between and was put on diazepam. They found out that after all the seizures that I suffered a minor stroke and that I was positive for Covid. Early detection in general saved me and although it’s tough to recall all other events because of the stroke recovery, it’s helped numerous times. I have lupus and have also been diagnosed with anti phospholipid syndrome and a number of other rheumatoid diseases. Typically this app gives me a good warning by telling me when I’m having focal aware seizures that would normally go unnoticed and would lead to a tonic clonic if I didn’t take more medication or rest for a moment. People had been saying that I would mix words around and not make any sense and I would have this sensations of needing to stare or nod in some situations.