Approximately two thirds of people with epilepsy are able to control their seizures with anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). You can download our leaflet entitled ‘Anti-epileptic drug treatment’ to read about the different AEDs that are available.
Unfortunately, most AEDs cause unwanted side effects, which can lower the quality of a person’s life considerably. Side effects can include weight gain, sleepiness, confusion, unsteadiness, lowered efficacy of the contraceptive pill and harm to an unborn baby. A scientists gain a better understanding of epilepsy through research, they will hopefully be able to develop more targeted treatments with fewer side effects.
People with epilepsy can also experience other effects, either as a result of their condition or because of their medication. These include:
People who have had many seizures in their lifetime often find that their memory is affected. Memory loss is usually most apparent in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), a) because the temporal lobes hold the important memory centres of the brain and b) because TLE is often difficult to treat. The ability to learn (which is closely linked to memory) can also be affected in certain types of TLE.
Click here to read about the work being done by Dr Chris Butler, at the University of Oxford; who was given a grant by Epilepsy Research UK in 2010 to investigate the cause of memory loss in epilepsy and whether it can be prevented.
Dr Malik Zaben, at Cardiff University, was awarded a fellowship in 2012 to investigate whether learning and memory can be restored in temporal lobe epilepsy. To read more about this grant, click here.
At least one in every eight people with epilepsy also has depression. Depression contributes to poor quality of life for people with epilepsy, and there is evidence that links depression with poor seizure control. Despite this, epilepsy services at all levels (GPs, hospitals and specialist consultants) rarely detect it. If a good method of identifying depression in epilepsy can be found, more people might benefit from being seizure free in the future.
Other treatments for epilepsy include:
- Ketogenic diet (click here for more information)
- Vagal nerve stimulation
If you would like to find out more about treatments for epilepsy, you can download our leaflet ‘Treatment for epilepsy’.