Treatments for Epilepsy

Good morning!! 

As I've mentioned before, there is no cure for epilepsy, but you can treat the seizures in the hope that they become controlled.  I'm going to provide a bunch of links to research and information about different treatment options.  I had planned on doing a blog posting about meds, the Ketogenic Diet, and surgery, but why re-invent the wheel?  ;-)

• Medications- This is the first step towards achieving seizure control.  In a perfect world, the first medicine would work, and you'd never experience another seizure ever again.  Unfortunately, this isn't the case.  In most situations, seizures will continue to occur until therepeutic levels are reached for the medicine.  The best way to measure this is blood work.  The doctor will order it, and it will measure how much of the medicine is in your blood after being metabolized.  Once it reaches a certain level, the doctor will not increase the medicine unless another seizure occurs.  As with all medications, if you take too much, it can hurt your body.  Additionally, you have to consider the possibility that the first medication won't be successful in controlling seizures.  If it isn't, you may discontinue use of that medication, and then start a new one, OR you may be prescribed an additonal medication.  Eight out of ten people achieve seizure control when on two or more medications.  My daughter is on three medications to control her seizures: Zonegran, Banzel, and Klonopin.  She's only experienced two seizures this year, so I consider her seizures to be controlled for now. 

• Ketogenic Diet- I kind of think of the Ketogenic Diet as the Atkins Diet for epilepsy.  It's very low in carbs, and very high in fats and proteins.  In all the research that I've done on it, I've never found a doctor that can explains why this diet works.  I have seen that in children that are on the diet, two out of three have decreased seizures, and one out of three achieve seizure control.  Please note that the diet is a whole family commitment, and it has to be monitored by a medical team.  Please don't just decide you want to try it, and then do it.  Talk to your doctor, and do it right.  :)

• VNS Implant- This is almost like a pacemaker for the brain.  I've known people that have been on up to thirty-four pills a day to control their seizures, and once having the VNS done, they reduced to no more than six to ten.  It is really, really amazing.

• Surgery- This would be to remove the section of the brain that is causing the seizures.  I consider this to be the last option for seizure control, though I can understand why people consider it.  It has never been an option for us since my daughter's doctor has been concerned that some of her seizures start out as generalized rather than in one section of the brain and spreading.