Anecdotal but I have epilepsy and my memory has started decreasing since I started having seizures. Even now thoroughly medicated, I'll still have moments where I completely lose my train of thought, and have to rethink how I arrived there.
I’ve wondered if the memory issues are actually side effects of the medication. I spent 6 months on max dosage of one medication and memory was crap and ability to communicate with humans (vs computers for the day job) was greatly diminished. I’m now down to about half the dosage of that medication but we’ve added a small dose of a second medication and I’m remembering more and social interactions aren’t as stressful as they were.
I'm not on a ton of medication, but it's very possible. The drugs they put you on are varying kinds of brutal.
I'm curious if the ketogenic diet is regularly presented as a treatment option to those with epilepsy or is it primarily meds?
Primarily medication. Fasting has a long (ancient) history as a treatment for epilepsy, the modern revival and investigation of the ketogenic diet specifically relates to certain types drug-resistant childhood epilepsy. The Wikipedia article on the ketogenic diet is quite informative.
What about "difficulty recalling words"?
not parent but as someone with temporal lobe epilepsy, in addition to what parent describes, difficulty recalling words is definitely something i experience. Probably the most annoying thing that i have had to learn to deal with is people trying to fill in or guess what word i am trying to say while i pause. The hippocampus is located in the temporal lobe and is heavily involved in the processing and storage of short-term memory as well as retrieval of long-term memory, so it makes sense that if the hippocampus is a bit fried from seizures it would manifest as memory-related cognitive issues.
Yep 100%
That's a common side effect of lamictal/lamotrigine.