Diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy
The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center offers several different treatment options for all types of epilepsy and seizure disorders. Your epilepsy team may recommend more than one treatment method, depending on your child's needs.
Children who are diagnosed with epilepsy will be started on medication to control the seizures. There are many medications currently used to treat epilepsy.
Our clinical team will prescribe the most effective medication based on your child's age, type of epilepsy/seizures, and health history. Medications do not cure epilepsy. They control seizures by calming the brain down and making it less likely to have abnormal electrical activity, which results a seizure.
All the medications we prescribe carry risks for side effects. Your provider will work with you to manage these side effects. Our goal is always to have the best control of seizures with the least amount of side effects. The most common side effect noticed is increased sleepiness during the first one to two weeks of starting a new medication. This usually improves after your child’s body gets used to the new medication.