Treatments are available that can successfully prevent seizures for most people with epilepsy. The first treatment is almost always one of the many seizure medicines that are now available. Each medicine tends to work better for certain kinds of seizures than for others. If one treatment fails, another may be more successful. This section provides in-depth information on epilepsy medications, investigational drugs and insurance issues.

General Information

There is no known cure for epilepsy. But medications can control seizures in most people. These medicines do not actually "fix" the problems that cause seizures. Instead, they work by stopping the seizures from occurring. Before suggesting treatment with a seizure medicine (also called an antiepileptic drug or AED), your doctor usually has made a diagnosis of epilepsy. It is important to openly discuss with your doctor the pros and cons of the different medicines that are available to treat your kind of epilepsy.

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Detailed Seizure Medicine Information

The following drugs are currently approved and marketed for certain kinds of epilepsy in certain countries.
Click on the drug name for detailed information on each medicine.

Banzel Carbamazepine Carbatrol® Clobazam Clonazepam Depakene® Depakote® Depakote ER® Diastat Diazepam Dilantin® Ethosuximide Ezogabine Felbatol® Felbamate Frisium Gabapentin Gabitril® Inovelon® Keppra® Keppra XR™ Klonopin Lacosamide Lamictal® Lamotrigine

Levetiracetam Lorazepam Luminal Lyrica Mysoline® Neurontin® Onfi® Oxcarbazepine Phenobarbital Phenytek® Phenytoin Potiga Primidone Rufinamide Sabril Tegretol® Tegretol XR® Tiagabine Topamax® Topiramate Trileptal® Valproic Acid Vimpat Zarontin® Zonegran® Zonisamide

Treatment Guidelines

Seizure medicines are developed to treat different types of seizures. After a drug has been on the market for a while and has been used in larger numbers of people, we learn more about these drugs. Yet, it is often hard to know which drugs may be best for different types of epilepsy and how they compare to one another. This section offers links to guidelines that have been developed on the use of some of the seizure medicines and other therapies to treat epilepsy.

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Topic Editor: Steven C. Schachter, MD and Patricia O. Shafer, RN, MN.
Last Reviewed: 9/20/08