Seizure Medicines
Treatments are available that can successfully prevent seizures for most people with epilepsy. The first treatment is almost always one of the many seizure medicines that are now available. Each medicine tends to work better for certain kinds of seizures than for others. If one treatment fails, another may be more successful. This section provides in-depth information on epilepsy medications, investigational drugs and insurance issues.
General Information
There is no known cure for epilepsy. But medications can control seizures in most people. These medicines do not actually "fix" the problems that cause seizures. Instead, they work by stopping the seizures from occurring. Before suggesting treatment with a seizure medicine (also called an antiepileptic drug or AED), your doctor usually has made a diagnosis of epilepsy. It is important to openly discuss with your doctor the pros and cons of the different medicines that are available to treat your kind of epilepsy.
Detailed Seizure Medicine Information
The following drugs are currently approved and marketed for certain kinds of epilepsy in certain countries.
Click on the drug name for detailed information on each medicine.
* Banzel
* Carbamazepine
* Carbatrol®
* Clobazam
* Clonazepam
* Depakene®
* Depakote®
* Depakote ER®
* Diastat
* Dilantin®
* Ethosuximide
* Felbatol®
* Felbamate
* Frisium
* Gabapentin
* Gabitril®
* Inovelon®
* Keppra®
* Keppra XR™
* Klonopin
* Lamictal®
* Lamotrigine
* Levetiracetam
* Luminal
* Lyrica
* Mysoline®
* Neurontin®
* Oxcarbazepine
* Phenobarbital
* Phenytek®
* Phenytoin
* Primidone
* Rufinamide
* Sabril
* Tegretol®
* Tegretol XR®
* Tiagabine
* Topamax®
* Topiramate
* Trileptal®
* Valproic Acid
* Vimpat
* Zarontin®
* Zonegran®
* Zonisamide
Treatment Guidelines
Seizure medicines are developed to treat different types of seizures. After a drug has been on the market for a while and has been used in larger numbers of people, we learn more about these drugs. Yet, it is often hard to know which drugs may be best for different types of epilepsy and how they compare to one another. This section offers links to guidelines that have been developed on the use of some of the seizure medicines and other therapies to treat epilepsy.
* Learn More
International AED Name Database
Many medicines are known by different names, depending on the country and company involved. Additionally, a drug may be known by both a generic name and a brand name. The International AED Name Database is a tool to help you find the names of seizure medicines in different countries. Epilepsy.com provides this database as a resource for your use. It has been compiled over the years and as new pharmaceuticals are introduced into our countries, the data may become outdated. This database is considered an ongoing project and every attempt will be made to ensure that the data is current and correct. However, since this database may contain inaccuracies, outdated information and omissions, this information should not be used to make treatment decisions without independent confirmation from an official resource.
* Learn More
Topic Editor: Steven C. Schachter, MD and Patricia O. Shafer, RN, MN.
Last Reviewed: 9/20/08
--- In epilepsy@yahoogroup
>
> Wow, That's a tough meds schedule to keep up with. I'm glad you can
> keep it straight. I know it would be a challenge for me. You are
> also fortunate to not have a seizure for more than a year. I would
> love to reach that point again. The breakthrough seizures I have are
> frustrating but I am learning to live with them. I need to ask my
> doctor, and I have a new neurologist because my previous one retired.
> I want to learn more about the different medications we all take. The
> first question I have is which ones are new to the market. I have read
> there are many that are just being made available and I don't know
> their differences. Dilantin and Phenabarb have been around for many
> years. Carbatrol has been around for some time also. If anyone is
> using on of the new medications, how much success are they having? Any
> side effects?
> Thanks everyone for your support. I'm learning a lot about how we each deal with this.
>
>
> CBI
>
> --- On Tue, 4/28/09, mylmy@... <mylmy@...> wrote:
> From: mylmy@... <mylmy@...>
> Subject: Re: [epilepsy] Taking more than one medication
> To: epilepsy@yahoogroup
> Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 1:16 AM
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> CBI,
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> For me it was up to the Dr. I have nothing to do with it.
>
> I was taking 4 brand name Dilantin and the blood level
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> told him that was too much. So I take 3 Dilantin Mon, Wed
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> and Fri and 4 the other days.I also take 4- 30 mg phenabarb
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> a day. I have my blood levels checked twice a year and again
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> if I have a sz. I have a physical once a year and a check up
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> 6 months later. I have been on this for over 20 years. He
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> also has my liver, kidneys, sugar etc. checked.(blood test)
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> I take 2 Dilantin ,2 phenabarb and an Evista (osteoporosis)
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> in the AM and on Mon, Wed, and Fri I take 1 Dilantin, 2 phenabarb
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> and aspirin. The other days I take 2 Dilantin, 2 phenabarb and
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> an aspirin at night.
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> My last sz was 2 years ago and before that it was 4 years.
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> I used to have grand mal szs but now they are more like complex
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> partials. My girls say my brain is scrambled for about 2 days.
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> I don't pass out but I also am not my normal self. I don't smile,
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> act like I don't hear you, don't ask questions and then can't
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> answer questions.
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> Millie
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> > The only time I've taken more than one medication was when I switched
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> > from Dilantin to Tegretal. This was a phase out phase in approach and it
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> > worked for me, no seizures during the transition. I had been on dilantin
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> > so long that I had conficence even though it didn't completely stop my
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> > seizures. I was not as sure with tegretal at first only because I was
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> > not familiar with it. At first I thought while still taking Dilantin,
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> > at a lower dose and taking Tegretal, why not stay on those dosages. It
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> > was not my doctor's decision nor intent.
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> > What I'm not sure about is when is the decision made to take more than
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> > one medication?
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> > How long have members taken two or more typed of medications? The
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> > one negative effect is the strain it places on your liver or other
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> > organs. How do you manage that?
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> > Are there long lasting effects that raise concerns?
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> > How do you manage the medication blood levels to keep control?
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> > How do you tell when to increase one medication and not another?
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> > Any experiences you have or and guidelines from your doctors would
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> > help.
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> > Do you take each medication at different times during a day?
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> > If you think of other information that would help understand how this
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> > is a benefit and positive or negative experience please include them.
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> > What about side effects. Can the two interfere with one another and
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> > cause headaches or tremors? By all means if it results in months or
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> > years of being seizure free, that would be great however the other
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> > factors need to be considered especially side effects and strain on
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> > other parts of the body. Thanks for your support.
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> > CBI
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