More and more research is being done about epilepsy. Likewise, epilepsy treatment has gotten better and better. Recent findings caused new guidelines to be set regarding these new approaches to epilepsy treatment. If you have epilepsy or know someone that does, it is important that you understand these new guidelines.

Epilepsy is characterized by seizures that happen when instant changes occur in the way the brain cells interact electrically. When a wave of electrical energy floods a part of the whole brain, it disrupts normal brain activity. Seizures are usually one or two minutes long. During this time, brain functions such as speech, movement, mood, emotions, and memory are affected.

There are many drugs available to deal with this. Among them are anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) that do not necessarily cure epilepsy. Instead, these drugs deal with the seizures by controlling electrical signals in the brain. When taken correctly, AEDs can completely control seizures. Now that several types of AEDs are available in the market, your doctor will choose an AED that best suits your condition, age, and capability to handle side effects. There will be a time when trial and error must be done to find the right AED for you, so don’t let this worry you. Each person reacts to different drugs differently.

Some of the most common AEDs have been around for decades, some even for 50 years. These drugs have been thoroughly studied so their effectiveness can be relied on. There are also new drugs entering the market, and doctors do not know much about them. These drugs include those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the past ten years.

Experts in the field have devoted time to studying these new epilepsy treatments. They want to make sure that these drugs are safe to use and are truly effective. They have found that in some cases, there isn’t enough information to decide on that.

While doing this study, experts have found four new anti-epileptic drugs that are safe and effective. The generic names of these drugs are gabapentin, lamotrigine, oxcarbazepine, and topiramate. These are identified as monotherapy, which means that they must be taken only one at a time. These drugs are suited for newly-diagnosed epileptic patients that have partial or mixed seizures. Lamotrigine has also been verified to be a good epilepsy treatment for children newly diagnosed with absence seizures or petit mal seizures.

Before buying drugs to be used as epilepsy treatment, ask your doctor about its track record in helping epilepsy patients as well as any side effects that have been discovered. Also ask how long the drug has been approved. This will give you a better idea of what you can expect from that epilepsy treatment. Older anti-epileptic drugs are generally trusted and effective. If the drug is fairly new, do additional research on it just to make sure that it has been studied by scientific experts.

Make sure you talk to your doctor about the risks, benefits, and options you have regarding any epilepsy treatment. The neurologists from the American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society suggest that you should learn a lot about your condition and the options available for treatment. This is especially important for parents seeking epilepsy treatments for their children, because the safety of our children is always a top priority.

http://aan.com/professionals/practice/pdfs/patient_ep_onset_c.pdf