Drug treatment of epilepsy

British Medical Journal, Jan 9, 1999 by Morgan Feely

* The epilepsy is controlled, but the patient has problems with side effects and no change in the treatment (drug or dosage) is made

* The patient is seen by a specialist and referred back to the general practitioner with an appropriate recommendation regarding treatment, but when this proves ineffective further advice is not sought

Summary points

In treating epilepsy, the drug chosen needs to be matched to the individual patient and the type of epilepsy

Often, the most suitable treatment regimen can be established only by trial and error

The wide range of treatments now available offers most patients good seizure control without unacceptable side effects and offers patients with refractory epilepsy a chance of better control

Many patients with epilepsy still do not seem to be getting the treatments that are most appropriate for them

Competing interests: During the past five years MF has attended epilepsy meetings abroad as a guest of the manufacturers of all four of the "new" drugs currently marketed in the United Kingdom.

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