Virtually all drugs for for epilepsy pose potential dangers through possible side effects. However, patient responses to medications vary widely. Some patients experience side effects from nearly every medication they take, while other patients are fortunate enough to be nearly free from side effects while taking medication.
Types of Side Effects
The side effects from anti-epileptic drugs affect a huge range of physical functions. Some of the more common side effects are nausea and digestive problems, cognitive and mental health changes and lethargy and dizziness. Other common drug-related side effects are acne and weight loss. Occasionally, anti-epileptic drugs can even cause an increase in seizures, when the drug is taken at levels toxic to the individual. The most serious side effects are probably changes in mental health, as some anti-epileptic drugs can make patients depressed, anxious and even suicidal. Patients with epilepsy also find the cognitive problems these drugs cause beyond frustrating, as the drugs can impair patients' mental functions, making it difficult for them to think clearly, and wreaking havoc on their memory.
Conventional Medicine and Drug Side Effects
Currently, many neurologists maintain that there is no way to know beforehand whether or not a patient will experience side effects from a medication, until the patient tries the medication. Because so little is known about seizures and the brain, doctors' prescription of anti-seizure medications is relatively random, with patients often being subject to a long and trying period of trial and error in an attempt to find a medication with tolerable side effects. Some of the newer epilepsy medications do have fewer side effects, but some patients find the new drugs as problematic as older medications.
Medication Seen as Only Treatment for Epilepsy
Doctors often underestimate how frightening side effects are for their patients, and even when patients complain of side effects there is little they believe they are able to do besides prescribe another type of medication, advising their patients that medication is the only viable treatment for epilepsy. Patients are often told to try new medications for at least a month, and to see if the side effects diminish within that period of time. Surgery and vagus nerve stimulation are often only suggested as alternatives when patients have refractory epilepsy, seizures that do not respond to medication.
Alternatives to Medication
However, although some mainstream medical professionals may deny it, many patients with epilepsy have been able to reduce their dosage of anti-epileptic medication or discontinue it altogether through alternative therapies. Chiropractic, acupuncture and biofeedback are all alternative fields that can help reduce seizures. Naturopathic and herbal medicine can also help some individuals. Patients with epilepsy should utilize these approaches and conventional treatments simultaneously at first, as discontinuing seizure medication cold turkey is dangerous.
There are Other Options
It's important for patients seeking treatment for seizures to realize that doctors often minimize the very real and all-too-common experience of side effects, but there are other options out there. It's true that there are some people who are able to find a drug they tolerate very well, but if you're researching epilepsy on the Internet, odds are you haven't had such luck.
Take the Initiative
Unfortunately, when it comes to epilepsy, doctors are not always necessarily the patients' best advocate, and patients with epilepsy cannot passively sit back and hope to be successfully and painlessly treated for epilepsy. However, if patients take their health in their own hands and proactively seek out other types of treatment, they may be able to reduce the amount of medication they take, and correspondingly, the number and severity of side effects they experience.
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