Treatments

There are an increasing number of treatment options, but there are still no cures for the epilepsies. To differing degrees, all the treatment options carry varying degrees of risks and side-effects.

Medications

For many years, antiepileptic drugs (phenobarbital, phenytoin [Dilantin], valproate [Depakote], and carbamazepine [Tegretol]) were the only drugs available. Since 1993, other antiepileptic drugs have been approved. These include felbamate [Felbatol], topiramate [Topamax], lamotrigine [Lamictal], an improved Tegretol now known as Tegretol XR and then Trileptol, and leviteracetam [Keppra].

Dietary Therapies.

The ketogenic diet is an old and now a renewed treatment option. It has been used in the past and has now found new support and use primarily as a result of advocacy work by The Charlie Foundation to Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsiesand the desperate pleas of parents for more successful treatment options for their children.

Surgery

Surgery is still an option for some kinds of seizures. There are various types of surgeries. Please consult a team who are experienced with epilepsy surgery to determine whether or not surgery is appropriate and what type of surgery is appropriate for you.

As with other treatment options, the decision to proceed with surgical treatment option should involve the person with epilepsy (if possible) and the family members.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)

VNS is a kind of therapy that fights seizures by sending small pulses of electrical energy from an implanted battery to a large nerve in the neck.

Specialists

For good diagnosis and treatment, the most important thing is a very careful history done by a concerned physician. The history is then supplemented by an examination including a neurological exam and other ancillary test including electroencephalography (EEG) awake and asleep, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography, and blood studies.

The diagnosis of the type of seizure and epilepsy syndrome are very important in treating patients because they determine the evaluation, the treatment more likely to be effective, and the prognosis of that patient.

If I have seizures, do I need to see a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy?
This is recommended. Request that your primary doctor or pediatrician refer you to a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy. The epilepsy specialist can work with your primary doctor to help manage your seizures.

What Can I Expect From My Neurologist Or Epileptologist?
The epilepsy specialist will work with your primary doctor to:

1.       Verify that your seizures are epileptic in nature.

2.       Diagnose and define your type of seizure types and your epilepsy syndrome.

3.       Determine the likely cause of your epileptic seizures (if known).

4.       Work with you to identify and stop your trigger factors.

5.       Establish an early treatment plan based on #1 to #3 and discussions with you and your family.

6.       Work with you to monitor seizure control and recognize adverse effects of treatment and of seizures in order to balance the effects of both with your quality of life.

7.       If first treatment plan does not work, explore other treatment options with your doctor.

Epilepsy Centers
Comprehensive epilepsy centers have the resources to diagnose and treat epilepsy in all its forms and focus on either curing or alleviating the epilepsy by stopping or reducing the seizures.

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