On the other hand, there are horror stories of individuals who have suffered severe side effects, or have actually dies, after taking an anticonvulsant.

Many drugs are presently in use against epilepsy. They work through various mechanism, and not all of them work against all types of seizures, but when they are used correctly they are good drugs, and can be of tremendous benefit.

Some of them are designed to suppress seizures by preventing the spread of abnormal electrical activity from the focus to other parts of the brain. Others are targeted toward preventing the spread of electrical excitation from one brain cell to another. To achieve this, they may act on the excitatory neurotransmitters, or they may enhance or mimic the inhibitory neurotransmitters.

However, most drugs work on the surface of brain cells, to block electrical activity along the individual cells. Here are some of them:

Phenobarbital is a landmark drug. It was the first real anticonvulsant ever discovered, and it has been used for more than any other drug in the treatment of epilepsy. Even today, on a world wide basis, it is the most widely used anticonvulsant drug, especially in developing countries.

Primidone Like phenobarbital, primidone has been around for a very long time. In fact, the two drugs are closely related and form a chemical perspective the primidone molecule is quite similar to the phenobarbital molecule. However, these are not identical drugs. Primidone itself has anticonvulsant activity, and it is converted by the body to phenobarbital and to another chemical called phenylethylmalonamide.

Phenytoin has a long history. It was first evaluated as a sleeping pill, but was found to have anticonvulsant effects as well. Phenytoin does not work on all seizure types. It tends to work better on secondary epilepsies. Thus it works best for tonic clonic seizures and partial seizures.

Ethosuximide It bears a certain resemblance to phenytoin, but it’s only effective against absence seizures. It doesn’t work on any of the secondary epilepsies, or against simple partial or complex partial seizures, and it has no effect on epilepsies that begin in adulthood.

Carbamazepine is probably one of the most widely used anticonvulsants. It too was discovered more by accident than by design. It was initially used as an antidepresant, but it soon became clear that the drug’s anticonvulsant properties were much more marked, and it is nor used mainly for these properties.

Valproic  Acid is structuarraly uniwue, and its properties and toxicities are different from those of other anticonvulsants. Vaproic acid can cause weight gain, hair loss and tremor, but generally will less confusion and fatigue than are associated with the other drugs. Also, valproic acid is a broad spectrum anticonvulsant.

Clonazepam together with nitrazepam and diazepam, belongs to a largerfamily of drugs called 1,4 benzodiazepines. Many drugs within this family are used as sleeping agents or to reduce anxiety. They are sometimes used to prevent alcoholic in withdrawal from experiencing the “DTs”

Clobazam is a 1.5 benzodiazepine. This subtle chemical distinction means fewer problems with developent of tolerance to the anticonvulsant action than there are with clonazepam. For this reason, clobazam is probably the benzodiazepine of choice in the treatment of seizures at the present time.

Vigabatrin The appearance of vigabatrin heralded a new era of anticonvulsants drug in the 1980s in Europe and 1990 in Canada. Vigabitrin has not been approved in USA. Unlike the earlier anticonvulsants, vigabatrin wan not stumbled upon by accident.

Gabapentin Like vigabatrin, gabapentin was designed and created, not discovered accidentally. A growing body of evidence suggests that, beyond its anticonvulsant properties, it may be useful in the treatment of pain disorders, especially the neuralgias associated with diabetes and shingles.

Lamotrigine is an extremely effective new anticonvulsant. It too is a product of drug design, however, the chemist who created it were testing a theory that turned out to be wrong. Lamotrigine works well at suppressing seizures, but the mechanism that makes it effective is not the one its designers were investigating. So its discovered was deliberate but also accidental.

Related posts:

1. Epilepsy Treatment Issues In Children
2. How Do Drugs For Epilepsy Works

Changes may be dramatic, or may be quite subtle, some are detectable only through specialized tests, such as a precise measurements of reaction time.

Epilepsy is the disorder experienced by people who have multiple seizures, it is a chronic condition characterized by a predisposition to recurrent, usually spontaneous seizures.

Related posts:

1. What To Do If Someone Is Having An Epilepsy Seizure
2. Epilepsy Treatment Issues In Children
3. How Do Drugs For Epilepsy Works

It is actually impossible to swallow the tongue. This practice hes unfortunately become commonplace, but actually places both the person having the epilepsy seizures and the witness risk of injury.

The person’s teeth may be broken by biting the object, or the object could become lodged in the throat, interfering with breathing. Contractions of the jaw are extremely forceful during a seizure, so the well meaning onlooker may also find himself with a severe bite to his hand. The tongue is, however, often bitten during a seizure, this cannot be prevented and will, in any case, heal relatively quickly.

If the person remains unconscious after the seizure stops, the safest position for the person is one her side. As secretions are frequently present during seizures, and the person will be unable to protect the airway, this position will allow secretions to drain and prevent the possibility of aspiration of fluids into the lungs.

The person may be confused or even violent after a seizure. An onlooker should speak calmy and reassuringly and not try to restrain the person in any way (no holding or pushing), as this can increase agitation. If a person is in a dangerous area such as a roadway, it is wise to try to lead her gently to a safer place. If law enforcement or emergency medical personnel arrive, onlookers should be sure to tell them that the person had a seizure.

Police may mistake confused behavior for drunkenness or drug use, with subsequent  confrontation and restrain of the person, possibly leading to further agitation, violence, and mistakes arrest.

Most people with a known seizure disorder do not need to be taken to an emergency room after a typical, uncomplicated seizure. If injury occurs requiring treatment or if the seizure is prolonged, immediate attention may be required. In other cases, it is sufficient to simply allow the person to recover, review things that may have caused the seizure, and consider whether the treating physician needs to be called.

Related posts:

1. What Is A Seizure
2. Genetic Causes Of Epilepsy
3. Epilepsy Treatment Issues In Children

Another naturally, occurring hormone, melatonin, is available commercially in health food stored and drugstores and is a widely used as a epilepsy cure for mild sleep disorders. In normal people, melatonin is secreted from the pineal gland according to a precise cycle over a twenty four hour period. Around bedtime, there is a dramatic increase in melatonin, facilitating sleepiness. The secretion of melatonin then falls during the night, and by morning the levels are low.

This cycle is an important part of our circadian rhythm, the system that regulates numerous body functions over a twenty four hours cycle, the most obvious of which is the sleep wake cycle. Some other functions that are part of this include temperature and secretion of some other hormones.

The release of melatonin is sensitive to light, and its release is typically resynchronised every day by daylight and nighttime darkness. When time zones are traversed, daylight “hits” the pineal gland at a different time, initially disturbing the melatonin cycle and contributing to jet lag. Ultimately, the light cues in the new time zone will regulate the melatonin cycle.

Why is melatonin important in epilepsy? Humans need for sleep is overlooked in general by Western society, despite the demonstrated importance of sleep in overall health and well being. People with epilepsy need quality sleep more than anyone else, since severe sleep deprivation can actually cause seizures, and anticonvulsant medications can increase the tendency toward drowsiness.

Melatonin supplements can also have direct anticonvulsant effect in photosensitive epilepsy and partial epilepsy. Absent large trials, however, the actual usefulness of melatonin to treat seizures independently of its beneficial effects on sleep is unknown.

Related posts:

1. Epilepsy Treatment Issues In Children

The trick is to calm that abnormal activity without affecting normal thinking and alertness.

Many drugs that are effective for partial seizures affect a specific chemical channel of the neuron: the sodium channel. This is a “gate” through which sodium ions can rush into the cells and is needed for the neuron to fire. Drugs such as phenytoin, carbamazepine, and lamotrigine affect this channel to prevent neurons from firing rapidly. Other drugs, such as valproic acid, ethosuximide, and levetiracetam, act on calcium channels.

Phenobarbital and benzodiazepines act through a specific type of neuron that uses gamma-aminobutiric acid as its transmitter. GABA neurons are usually part of an inhibitory system, and drugs affecting GABA probably work by improving the brain’s self calming ability to quell seizures.

Still other drugs, such as topiramate and felbamate, decrease excitatory pathways. All drugs are better at preventing the spread of seizures than at preventing their initiation, so that small seizures are sometimes the most difficult to completely eliminate.

Although there are theories, it is not known precisely how these drugs work. Some actually seem to have several actions that could potentially calm seizures, other do not have any of these known actions yet are still effective anticonvulsants. As the mechanism of the drugs and the precise abnormality in individual people are not well understood, finding the right match between medication and person is sometimes a process of trial and error.

Related posts:

1. Epilepsy Treatment Issues In Children
2. Drug Treatment For Epilepsy
3. What Is A Seizure

More in children than adults, it is sometimes reasonable not to give medication even after epilepsy seizures have been diagnosed. As children are less likely to be at high risk  for injury it might make sense to tolerate a rare, relatively minor seizures rather than expose the child to daily medication which is potential for side effects.

Also, many seizure syndromes in children resolve spontaneously with no long term consequences. Again, simple caution may be advisable as opposed as opposed to the risks of medication.

Most children with epilepsy, however, do require medication. Many physicians and parents worry about the potential influences of epilepsy medicines on critical learning processes that take place during childhood. If a child falls behind in school because he is always sleepy or inattentive, it may be difficult for him to catch up. In general, the influences of epilepsy medications on learning are theoretical rather than known.

Behavior is also a concern in children whenever drugs are used that affect the brain. Even with no effect on learning per se, a drug that effects a child’s ability to sit still in class, or one that makes her irritable and difficult to control, may be much more disruptive and harmful than a rare seizure.

Again, most children do not develop personality changes or irritability when taking drugs for epilepsy, but these effects are possible. Gebapentin, for example, is an extremely safe drug and therefore is often used in children with epilepsy, but a small percentage may develop behavior problems.

Some drugs have side effects in children that do not occur in adults. A rash can occur with any drug, but children seem more susceptible to serious rashes from lamotrigine.

As in adults, anticonvulsant drugs don’t  always work in children. Surgery can be an option whenever seizures persist and adversely affect a child’s life. Many epilepsy specialists actually think that children should be referred for extensive evaluation sooner than adults, as year lost in trials of drug may lead to a lifetime of emotional dependency and limited abilities, whereas early treatment of a child with epilepsy will allow her to develop normally, socially and intellectually.

Related posts:

1. How Do Drugs For Epilepsy Works
2. Cure Epilepsy With Naturally Occuring Hormones Melatonin
3. Drug Treatment For Epilepsy

Your genetic background determines more than the color of your eyes, your height, and your potential for developing certain diseases such as diabetes. It also determines all the chemicals and structures that make up your brain. While these are similar in different people, they vary in certain enzymes and receptors.

Think, for example about the nose. Everybody has one, and everyone used it to breath. Noses vary, however, in structures. This makes them look somewhat different and also changes the amount of air that can be moved through nose. Most of the time, the variation in air movement between people is not a problem, but occasionally someone’s nose is so small or formed in such a way that the person has trouble breathing, and it needs to be corrected.

Perhaps in a similar way, genetics determines all the structures needed to build neurons, synthesize transmitters, and release them when a neuron is active. The slight variations in these form person to person don’t usually result in a problem, but sometimes a combination of factores make neurons overactive and cause epilepsy, but if it occurs in the same person as a change in the receptor, enough over activity may result to cause spontaneous seizures.

A number of types of epilepsy are genetic, and thus the potential for seizures is present from the time of conception. Not surprisingly, most of these people begin to have seizures during childhood. Most of these, as far as we know, are generalized epilepsies.

The exact genetic problems are not known as yet, but many will likely be found in the next years of decades. The epilepsy seizure types seen in these syndromes, however, are varied. Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, for example has many distinct epilepsy seizure types absence staring spells, sudden myoclonic jerks, and generalized tonic clonic convulsions.

Yet this syndrome arises from a single mutation. Somehow, with a single tiny change in an ion channel, a receptor, or an enzyme in the brain, varied random irritability’s become manifest as seizures. Even in this people, the genetics are not simple.

At most, the chances of a child born of a mother or father with JME having epilepsy are about 10 percent. This leads us to suspect that probably not just one gene is involved, a combination of other factors must ultimately result in epilepsy. This complexity may be one reason why it has been so difficult to determine specific causes of genetic epilepsy.

Related posts:

1. What To Do If Someone Is Having An Epilepsy Seizure