Epilepsy Medication in Monmouth County
Find the Treatments You Need to Live Well
While medication cannot cure epilepsy, nearly 70% of patients dealing with the condition have found that the right medication can treat their symptoms and help them manage their seizures. Dr. Amor Mehta, MD, offers modern treatment options in Monmouth County, NJ, at the Neurology Center for Epilepsy & Seizures. You can find out more about how to live a healthy, productive life while managing your epilepsy-related condition.
Common Seizure Medications
While certain medications can be used to control a seizure once it has started, the majority of drugs used to treat epilepsy are anticonvulsants. These controlled-release drugs regulate chemicals in the brain to avoid irregular activity that can cause seizures. Each drug is created with a specific type of seizure in mind, meaning that you need to understand what is being treated before seeking the appropriate medication. NCES offers diagnostic services to help patients better understand their condition and move forward with prescriptions.
Anti-epilepsy drugs (AED) are used to treat seizures at various stages, including:
- Focal seizures: Because these seizures only affect a certain part of the brain, partial or focal seizures will take place in isolated parts of the body. The limited affected regions of the body can make it difficult to identify these as seizures, sometimes only presenting as epileptic auras that may never be considered to be epileptic in nature by lay individuals with no background in epileptic disorders.
- Generalized tonic-clonic seizures: Previously known as grand mal seizures, these conditions affect both hemispheres of the brain at the same time and result in sudden lapses of muscle control. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures are the most dangerous among those with epilepsy.
- Absence seizures: These types of seizures present as a transient loss of awareness and do not necessarily result in convulsions. Instead, the patient may show a brief period where they are unresponsive and return to normal shortly afterward.
- Myoclonic seizures: Myoclonic seizures behave more like twitches. This could be a spasm in the eye or neck that does not affect consciousness or cause loss of postural control.
- Atonic seizures (Drop seizures): These seizures present as a sudden loss of muscle tone, where people, if standing or sitting upright, may suddenly fall – leading to injuries. Patients with drop seizures often need to wear seizure helmets to protect themselves from head injuries.
Determining the Right Medication
The areas targeted by each drug are myriad. Dr. Amor Mehta, MD, and the NCES can help you better understand how to proceed with treatment using advanced diagnostic methods. Chemistry and dosage will depend on the types of seizures you experience, along with other factors including age and whether or not other therapies are being used.
Contact our office at (732) 800-4587 so we can determine if medication could be beneficial as part of your treatment.