Refractory Epilepsy - Maximed Turkey

Refractory Epilepsy

Refractory epilepsy is the diagnosis of epilepsy that does not respond to treatment with medications or other treatments. It can result in chronic neurological symptoms, loss of cortical tissue, and developmental delays. Pregnant women are at a higher risk of developing it if their child has a higher likelihood of developing this disease (genetic and family history).

There is no cure for refractory epilepsy and medication is usually prescribed as an attempt to control symptoms. It's important to always take the medicine as directed by the doctor — stopping the medication abruptly will make symptoms worse.

Treatments for epilepsy, like antiepileptic medication, may sometimes make symptoms worse or deteriorate the condition.

About one-third of patients affected by refractory epilepsies never achieve adequate control with the available treatments. Epilepsy usually does not respond to traditional treatment with antiepileptic medications, and non-medication methods are rarely used.

Current evaluations of the effectiveness of various non-medication methods include: chiropractic medicine, physiotherapy, diet strictures (slowly changing diet), tai chi, tai chi tui Kwon do (TWTKD), intrathecal baclofen (ITB) infusion, or surgery.

Refractory epilepsy refers to epilepsy that is unsatisfactory, redundant, or ineffective. When this happens, the condition can relapse after treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).

Also known as refractory seizures, these types of seizures are not responsive to medication or other medications. Refractory epilepsy may be defined as an epilepsy syndrome in which the seizure threshold (prevalence) does not respond to AEDs."

The first line of treatment for refractory epilepsy is to use anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) initially. These then become less effective due to tolerance and/or adverse effects that can occur.

Other treatments include the use of vagal nerve stimulation, insertion of electrodes in the brain to treat refractory epilepsy. These treatments are meant to stimulate the vagus nerve, which is sometimes used as another treatment for epilepsy.

The effectiveness of non-pharmacological therapies is often dependent upon patient's compliance. Prolonged courses are often required.

The most well-known non-pharmacological treatments are physiotherapy, diet strictures (slowly changing diet), tai chi, tai chi tui Kwon do (TWTKD), intrathecal baclofen (ITB) infusion, or surgery.

Refractory Epilepsy and children?

There are no current publicly accessible treatments that successfully stop seizures caused by non-refractory epilepsy. However, many children with chronic conditions whose seizures are not effectively treated continue to have periods of remission during which they do not have seizures.

These periods of remission typically last anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. When these seizures occur, certain other triggers can cause other symptoms that could be confused as part of the seizure itself. In many cases, however, there are also no identifiable triggers for the seizures.

What is Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback is another treatment that attacks the problem from a different angle by giving the brain information about how it should be working.

This data informs the patient's brainwaves so they can begin to change their own brainwave patterns according to feedback received through electrodes either on or in their scalp.

The non-pharmacological treatments help patients become seizure-free with 30% of patients reporting at least 50% improvement after four years.