Epilepsy Treatment

^{Reviewed by: My Child Without Limits Advisory Committee September 2009}

There are many different ways to treat epilepsy. It's important to know exactly what type of epilepsy a person has if the person is to be treated properly.

Current treatments can control seizures at least some of the time in about 80 percent of people with epilepsy. However, another 20 percent -- about 600,000 people with epilepsy in the United States -- have intractable seizures (seizures that are resistant to treatment). Another 400,000 feel they get inadequate relief from available treatments. These statistics make it clear that improved treatments are desperately needed.

Doctors who treat epilepsy are in many different fields of medicine. They include neurologists, pediatricians, pediatric neurologists, internists, and family physicians, as well as neurosurgeons and doctors called epileptologists who specialize in treating epilepsy. People who need specialized or intensive care for epilepsy may be treated at large medical centers and neurology clinics at hospitals or by neurologists in private practice. Many epilepsy treatment centers are associated with university hospitals that perform research in addition to providing medical care.

Once it is certain that the person has epilepsy, treatment should begin as soon as possible. Research suggests that medication and other treatments may be less successful in treating epilepsy once seizures and their consequences become established.

Next:

Epilepsy Medication

Download the Introduction to Epilepsy.