What Seizure Treatment is Right for You?
Stopping the seizures
The goal of epilepsy treatment is to stop seizures. If there are specific trigger factors, such as flashing lights, it may be possible to avoid the trigger and prevent further seizures.
There are effective antiepileptic drugs available to treat people who have recurrent seizures or seizures that have been shown to be associated with a focal lesion in the brain. These antiepileptic drugs can:
 Provide complete seizure control for 60-70% of patients
Provide partial control — that is, reduced seizure severity or frequency — in the remainder.
Indications for drug treatment
Drug treatment is usually initiated or strongly considered for the following patients:
Children and adults who have had two or three seizures, unless there is either a long separation between seizures or the seizure is provoked by an injury or other specific causes.
Anyone after a single seizure if tests reveal any brain injury or if specific syndromes put a person at special risk for recurrence, for instance, in cases of myoclonic epilepsy.
Some physicians believe that any adult who has a first seizure should begin ongoing epilepsy treatment, since another event is likely in 30% to 70% of these patients. In one study, when young adults were given a single drug (usually carbamazepine) after a first generalized seizure, only 22% had a subsequent seizure compared to about 70% of those who were not given treatment.1
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