Table of Contents
Is refractory epilepsy bad?
For patients with refractory epilepsy, the risks of continued seizures may outweigh the risks of treatments, including those with possible serious adverse effects.
Do repeated seizures cause brain damage?
To summarize, prolonged seizures can result in brain damage, while recurring seizures can also have adverse effects on brain functioning. In turn, traumatic brain injuries can also lead to various types of seizures, which may cause further damage.
Does epilepsy medication damage the brain?
Since seizure medicines lower the excitability of nerve cells in the brain, they can also affect normal activity. Cognitive problems – problems with thinking, remembering, paying attention or concentrating, finding the right words, or other symptoms – can be due to side effects of some seizure medicines.
Can you grow out of refractory epilepsy?
Non-drug therapies, such as epilepsy surgery, vagus nerve stimulation, responsive neurostimulation, deep brain stimulation, dietary therapies, or experimental clinical trials, may be good options for some people. Only 5\% of people (1 out of 20) with refractory epilepsy get better each year.
How common is refractory epilepsy?
You can have refractory epilepsy as an adult, or your child might have it. About 1 in 3 people with epilepsy will develop it.
What percentage of epilepsy is refractory?
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.
Do seizure meds cause memory loss?
Memory problems can sometimes happen due to the side effects of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). Drowsiness or concentration problems can affect your short-term memory, and may make it more difficult to learn and store new information.
What percent of epilepsy is refractory?
This condition is also referred to as intractable, medically refractory, or pharmacoresistant epilepsy. As many as 20 to 40 percent of patients with epilepsy (roughly 400,000 people living in the United States) are likely to have refractory epilepsy.
What can cause refractory epilepsy?
What causes refractory epilepsy? Some seizures have known causes, such as head injuries, infections, fevers, or brain tumors. But often the cause of seizures in epilepsy is not known. In the same way, it is not clear why some people with epilepsy are not helped by antiepilepsy medicines.
Does creatine help epilepsy?
Besides, acute creatine (40 and 80 mg/Kg) decreased the incidence of tonic seizures after electroshock. In conclusion, creatine exerts anticonvulsant effects in three seizure models; therefore, it may act as a potential drug to help patients with convulsions.
Does epilepsy cause dementia?
People with epilepsy develop Alzheimer’s disease at a rate 6 times higher than the non-epileptic population, and seizures can damage the memory centers of the brain and contribute to dementia.