Epilepsy Journal app

This app enables users to keep track of their seizures (such as duration, seizure type, rescue medication, triggers, activity, location) and record their medications (name, strength, dose, frequency). Users can view trends in their seizure frequency and generate reports of their seizure history. There is a ketogenic diet tracker section which can be used if applicable. The app allows users to share their health information with friends, family or health professionals.

For the complete app description, go to Google Play(external link) and for a detailed review, see reviews below.

Clinical review

Reviewer: Lena Estrin, Community Pharmacist
Date of review: April 2023
Comments: This is a useful app for people who have recurrent seizures or epilepsy, and their carers. The app allows seizures to be tracked along with possible triggers to find patterns and trends. This information can then be shared with others involved in the persons care including health professionals.
The medication section helps people to record what medication they are taking. Reminders to take medication can be set and there is the ability to add a photo of the medication to the app which could be beneficial for people who have multiple people involved in administering their antiseizure meds. The medication feature does rely on medication information being entered correctly by the app user – there is no list of commonly used medication to choose from so it may not always be accurate. Those following a ketogenic diet may find the keto tracking function useful.
Safety concerns: None
New Zealand relevance: Yes

Clinical review

Reviewer: Jeremy Steinberg, GP, FRNZCGP
Date of review: December 2017
Version: 1.3.6
Platform: Android
Comments: This app is useful for people who suffer from seizure disorders and their caregivers. Users can track seizure trends, monitor and compare treatment response, identify potential triggers, receive medication reminders and more effectively share data with their doctor. This is a very high quality journal application that allows users to easily log seizures and related information. Users can note whether rescue medication was used, seizure type, possible triggers, activity and location (all customisable). The app has good data visualisation. For people undertaking a ketogenic diet, they can track ketone levels and compare levels with seizures. This app appears to have had input from doctors during its development. 
Safety concerns: None
New Zealand relevance: No concerns    

Clinical review

Reviewer: Kinu McCarthy, Epilepsy Speciality Clinical Nurse
Date of review: March 2018
Comments: This app is useful for patients with epilepsy, their support persons, and clinician. The app makes it easy for patients to record their seizure frequency and to produce reports, and for clinicians to see seizure trends. However, from a usability perspective, it is difficult to press the seizure button when you are having seizure with altered awareness, so the recorded time and duration of the seizure might not be accurate. Also an editing option for alarm setting for medication reminder would be helpful. 
Safety concerns: None
New Zealand relevance: No concerns