AEDS | Epilepsy Talk

Anti-Epilepsy Drugs and Osteoporosis – It’s Not Just a Women’s Disease

May 6, 2018
43 Comments

A research team consisting of epilepsy specialists and epidemiologists (persons who study the causes and control of diseases) reports on a study that answered an important but simple question:

Do anti-seizure drugs cause reductions in bone density?

Why ask this question?

Posted in Epilepsy, Medication Issues, Research
Tags: Actonel, AEDS, Boniva, Calcium, Carbatrol, Dilantin, FDA, Fosamax, Mysoline, Osteomalacia, Osteopenia, Osteoporosis, Phenobarbital, Tegretol, Vitamin D

Epilepsy Medication Conflicts…

May 1, 2018
18 Comments

For many of us, monotherapy just doesn’t work.

However adjunct therapy has its dangers.

And both treatments carry their own interactive risks – even with things as innocent as aspirin.

Posted in Epilepsy, Medication Issues, Research
Tags: AEDS, drug interaction, Epilepsy, risks, side effects

Zinc Can Help You Think!

April 4, 2018
15 Comments

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center, published the results of a collaboration with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research study, which found that zinc plays a key role in signal transmission between neurons in the hippocampus — a zinc enriched region of the brain responsible for learning and memory — and where disrupted communication may contribute to epilepsy.

Posted in Epilepsy, Medication Issues, Research
Tags: AEDS, communication, epilepsy treatment, memory, neurons, recommended dose, zinc, zinc supplements

Sex and Epilepsy — The Ultimate Challenge

May 8, 2017
4 Comments

It’s the $64,000 question.

Can I have sex with epilepsy, all the AEDs, and side-effects?

The answer is yes.

If you’re willing to be flexible.

Suicide and Epilepsy

June 12, 2016
22 Comments

“There is an underlying joint susceptibility to suicide attempts and epilepsy, and it can’t be ignored, because epilepsy in general is more than just seizures,” Dr. Dale Hesdorffer of Columbia University in New York City, told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.

Posted in Epilepsy, Research
Tags: absence of seizures, AEDS, current depression, neurologist and psychiatrist partnerships, newly diagnosed patients, psychiatric conditions, quality of life, suicidal thoughts, surgery

Epilepsy and Neuroengineering — A Brave New World of Possibilities

April 28, 2013
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Traditionally, the mainstay of epilepsy therapy has been treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).

But for 30% of those affected, no combination of standard therapy — medications and/or surgery — can control their seizures.

Although more new AEDs have come to the market over the past 10 years than during any other time in history, their primary contribution has been to improve adverse effects of medication, rather than to make more people seizure-free.

The proportion of people with epilepsy worldwide — whose seizures cannot be controlled by medical therapy — has remained unchanged, despite all these new pharmaceutical interventions…

Posted in Epilepsy, Medication Issues, Research
Tags: AEDS, brain, clinicians, engineers, enhancement, Epilepsy, human health, multi-science, Neuroengineering, neuroscientists, quality of life, restoration, seizure-free, surgery, underlying seizures

If You’re Thinking Of Getting Pregnant…

May 31, 2010
79 Comments

Years ago, women who had epilepsy were often discouraged from getting pregnant. Today, that’s no longer the case. Thanks to early and regular prenatal care, more than 90 percent of pregnant women who have epilepsy deliver healthy babies, according to the Epilepsy Foundation.

Posted in Epilepsy, Medication Issues, Tips
Tags: AEDS, breastfeeding, Epilepsy, Folic Acid, magnesium sulfate, Neurologist, obstetrician, pre-natal care, pregnancy, safety, seizures, single medication, Tips, Vitamin K