 [ Symptoms ] how do alcohol and drugs affect a teen with epilepsy [ Disease ] alcohol and a number of drugs legal and illegal can increase the risk of seizures although a lot of parents might rather avoid the topic it is important to talk about these issues especially if your child has epilepsy it is true that peer pressure can overwhelm any teenager is good sense but your child may have more restraint than you expect if he understands that drinking and doing drugs raise his risk of seizures he really may avoid those substances remember he really does not want to have seizures either