When you visit the Epilepsy Center, we begin by making sure that you do have epilepsy. There are other conditions that mimic epilepsy. A mistaken diagnosis can be the reason that previous and current epilepsy treatments failed. The next step: determine what kind of epilepsy you have. There are many kinds of epilepsy; each type responds differently to treatment. After doctors identify the type of epilepsy, they proceed to determine what part of your brain is affected and the treatment that works most effectively.
It may be necessary to change medications to control seizures and minimize side effects. Should brain surgery be the best option to control your seizures, you will benefit from our collaboration with nationally recognized surgeons in our Epilepsy Center.
You will also have access to the knowledge and experience of physicians and other medical staff within other areas, including specialists in epileptic neurology, functional neurology, pediatric neurology, neurosurgery, pediatric neurosurgery, neuroradiology, neuropsychology, rehabilitation, and physical occupational and speech therapy.
Each member of our team is proficient in caring for people with epilepsy, and is dedicated to helping you find the very best treatment for you as an individual. Our physicians have the most technologically advanced tools at their disposal, including:
- Electroencephalographic video monitoring enables physicians to accurately differentiate epilepsy from other conditions.
- Neuroimaging allows physicians to find a cause for the epilepsy and to offer a surgical treatment.
- Improved and reformulated classic medications and newly developed medications help to control seizures when other agents fail or have bad side effects. Some antiepileptic drugs are felbamate, gabapentin, lamotrigine, topiramate, tiagabine, levetiracetam, oxcarbazepine and zonisamide.
- Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS), an innovative approach using electrical stimulation of a nerve in the neck, has been shown to effectively control seizures in some patients when medications fail and brain surgery is not an option.
The Epilepsy Center also has an EEG video monitoring unit, an entire unit for watching epilepsy patients to detect exactly when their seizures occur and what type of seizures they have. This unit--open 24 hours a day, seven days a week-is staffed by highly-skilled monitoring technologists observing patients at all times.
To make an appointment, or for more information
To make an appointment, or if you have any questions, please call 216-844-2724.