Life satisfaction and sexuality in patients operated for epilepsy

Abstract

Changes in sexual behavior are often observed in patients with epilepsy. In order to investigate postoperative changes in sexuality and life satisfaction, operated and non-operated patients with epilepsy, as well as normal controls, were contacted for a survey. The questionnaire included 67 items concerning social background, life satisfaction, physical and psychological health, and sexuality (sexual desire, sexual contacts, sexual activity, etc). The results showed that patients with epilepsy do not rate overall life satisfaction much differently from neurologically normal control subjects. Specific questions regarding sexuality, revealed a lower sexual drive among the epilepsy patients compared with the controls. In most cases, there were no differences between the operated and the non-operated patients. Among the operated patients, the seizure-free group rated a higher level of life satisfaction and sexuality than the non-seizure free group.