There are many anticonvulsant or antiepileptic drugs approved for use in the United States. Not all are effective for every type of seizure. A physician will begin by prescribing a single drug and increase the dosage until seizures are controlled. If side effects appear, the dosage will be reduced until a balance between a minimum of side effects and a maximum of satisfactory control is achieved. If a single drug is not satisfactory, a second drug is usually added.
Some patients experience more than one type of seizure.
Sometimes the type of seizure experienced by a person may change as he or she grows older. Patients should be checked regularly by their physician. Because the individual's body chemistry causes him or her to absorb anticonvulsant drugs in an individual way, the physician may take blood samples to determine the level of drug present in the patient's system. Surgery may be used infrequently to treat epilepsy when the condition does not respond to medication or when its cause can be traced to such things as a scar on the brain or a tumor. But surgery will only be used if it can be determined that the scar or tumor is located where it can be safely removed.