Epilepsy

Learn about epilepsy

Epilepsy is a disorder characterized by unprovoked seizures. It includes more than 40 specific illnesses. Overactive neural activity in the brain is thought to be the primary cause and is related to mutations in key genes. Brain lesions—either scar tissue or abnormal growths—are also responsible for many cases. About 50 million people worldwide have a form of epilepsy; 90 percent of them live in developing countries. Children form the largest group of patients.

Treatment of Epilepsy

Medication is the first choice of epilepsy treatment, and anticonvulsant drugs are the standard choice for epilepsy medication.

The FDA has so far approved 20 drugs for use in the United States. Among them are Tegretol, Tranxene, Klonopin, Zarontin and Neurontin. Anticonvulsant medication treatment will be lifelong and will usually come with side effects, including mood changes, sleepiness, unsteadiness in gait, drug rashes, liver toxicity and aplastic anemia. A woman with epilepsy needs to carefully consider the potential effects that an epilepsy drug she is prescribed might have on her fetus in the event she becomes pregnant.

Surgery is also an epilepsy treatment option, though it carries greater risks than medication—surgeons must operate on the brain. Palliative surgery will remove lesions that are responsible for seizures. If needed, surgeons will conduct anterior temporal lobectomies, or the removal of the front portion of the temporal lobe, including the amygdala and the hippocampus. In the most extreme cases, doctors may resort to hemispherectomies, the removal or functional disconnection of most or all of one half of the cerebrum.

One alternative treatment that works well in children with epilepsy is dietary changes. When a child is placed on the ketogenic diet, epilepsy symptoms diminish or disappear altogether. This diet is very high-fat and high-protein but low in carbs and fluids. The combination causes the child's body to mimic starvation and produce ketones, which suppress seizures.

For More Information

Patients with epilepsy and parents of those with epilepsy are well-advised to seek out as much information as they can find about this disease. Many support groups and organizations are at their disposal with epilepsy information. These include The International League Against Epilepsy, the Epilepsy Network, the Epilepsy Foundation and the Epilepsy Center, among others.