Medical Questions » Epilepsy Questions » Question No. 314
| Question: | What medications can be used to treat epilepsy? My teenage son has suffered from the condition for years, but keeps having fits despite taking regular medication. |
| Answer: | There is a huge range a medication available, and it is often a matter of trial and error, and knowing which types of medication are more likely to treat certain types of epilepsy, in order to find the correct ones for your son. Often several different medications in low doses may be more effective than one or two in high doses. Blood levels are usually checked regularly to arrive at the correct dosage.
The drugs used to control epilepsy are known as anticonvulsants. This is a very large group of drugs. They are nearly always used as tablets, but injections and mixtures of some drugs are available.
Side effects from anticonvulsants vary widely from one person to another and between drugs. They are usually worst when treatment is first started, and wear off as time passes. Phenytoin may cause gum problems if used in the long term. All these drugs have a tendency to interact with other drugs, and the doctor must be made aware of all medications being taken and any other diseases (eg. diabetes) that may be present.
Examples of the anticonvulsant available include carbamazepine (Tegretol), clonazepam (Rivotril), ethosuximide (Zarontin), gabapentin (Neurontin), lamotrigine (Lamictal), phenytoin (Dilantin), primidone (Mysoline), sodium valproate (Epilim), sulthiame (Ospolot), tigabine (Gabitril), topiramate (Topamax) and vigabatrin (Sabril). Barbiturates (Phenobarb) and diazepam (Valium) are also used in epilepsy, but usually to treat a convulsion rather than prevent them.
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