Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Treat Seizure Disorder

There are a few different types of seizures, and each one requires a different treatment. There are also special diets that have been known to successfully reduce seizure activity. There is an option of surgery for the rare few. Each one carries its own benefits and its own risks. Be sure to weigh your benefits and risks carefully.


Instructions








1. Treat the fevers of a Febrile Seizures. Febrile seizures do not require anti-seizure medications since they are caused by a fever. If the fever is taken care of, there won't be a risk of any more seizures. Often times you must treat the illness that is causing the fever at the same time. To treat the fever itself, start with Advil which works faster than Tylenol. Give a dose of Tylenol a couple of hours later.








2. Use the Ketogenic Diet. This is a diet developed for epilepsy patients. This diet is high in fat and low in carbohydrates. It is important that you keep in touch with a nutritionist during the course of using this diet to make sure you are getting enough nutrition. Adults can use this diet as well, but most of the studies have been conducted on children. Over 50% of the children who try this diet see a reduction in the amount of seizures they were having.


3. Begin medications. This is the most common treatment for seizure disorders. It is also quite effective. It may take some time in the beginning to find a drug that is right for you and your body since all seizure drugs have side effects. It will also take a few weeks before the medicine has had a chance to work its way in to your blood stream in order to be effective. A neurologist will have to prescribe and monitor you in the beginning. Here are a list of common seizure drugs: Carbamazepine, Carbatrol, Clobazam, Clonazepam, Depakene, Depakote, Depakote ER, Diastat, Dilantin, Ethosuximide, Felbatol, Felbamate, Frisium, Gabapentin, Gabitril, Inovelon, Keppra, Klonopin, Lamictal, Lamotrigine, Levetiracetam, Luminal, Lyrica, Mysoline, Neurontin, Oxcarbazepine, Phenobarbital, Phenytek, Phenytoin, Primidone, Rufinamide, Sabril, Tegretol, Tegretol XR, Tiagabine, Topamax, Topiramate, Trileptal, Valproic Acid, Zarontin, Zonegran, and Zonisamide.


4. Consider surgery. This is the last resort and usually only done in patients who have not had success with any of the above treatments. The surgery itself is to remove the parts of the brain that the seizures are generating from. In order to find out this information a series of tests will need to be performed. This is usually done at a special epilepsy treatment facility and not at a regular hospital.

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