How do you know if you have refractory epilepsy?
The symptoms of refractory epilepsy are seizures despite taking anti-seizure medication. Your seizures could take different forms and last from a few seconds to a few minutes. You may have convulsions, which means you can’t stop your body from shaking.
What causes refractory seizures?
Key points about refractory epilepsy Refractory epilepsy occurs when your antiepilepsy medicines are no longer controlling your seizures. Often the cause of refractory epilepsy is not known. Your healthcare provider will likely give you other medicines to try to get your seizures under control.
What is treatment refractory epilepsy?
VNS Therapy, or vagus nerve stimulation, is a way of controlling seizures in people who do not respond to medications and may not respond to surgery. The vagus nerve sends information from your neck down to the chest and stomach, and then back up again. The vagus nerve then sends information up to the brain.
How common is refractory epilepsy?
About one-third of people with epilepsy will eventually develop refractory epilepsy. This means that medicines don’t work well, or at all, to control the seizures.
Does epilepsy shorten life expectancy?
Reduction in life expectancy can be up to 2 years for people with a diagnosis of idiopathic/cryptogenic epilepsy, and the reduction can be up to 10 years in people with symptomatic epilepsy. Reductions in life expectancy are highest at the time of diagnosis and diminish with time.
What is best medicine for epilepsy?
March 22, 2007 – Lamictal is the best first-choice drug for partial epilepsy, while valproic acid is the best first choice for generalized epilepsy, two major clinical trials show.
Is Lennox Gastaut Syndrome progressive?
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is a progressive epilepsy syndrome that causes tonic and atypical absence seizures and intellectual disability. It is difficult to treat, although some newer treatments are being investigated.