Seizure Medications | Treatments

Your doctor is likely to prescribe antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) as treatment for your child or loved one's Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS). LGS involves many types of seizures, and no single medication works for all seizures.¹ As a result, your doctor is likely to prescribe more than one medication.

AEDs are grouped into monotherapy and adjunctive (add-on) medications. Although monotherapies can be given alone, adjunctive medications must be given in addition to another medication.

Talk to your doctor about whether the medications currently available for seizure control might be appropriate for your child. When prescribing multiple medications, your doctor should be mindful of the effects that each new medication will have. Because of this, it is important that your doctor knows all medications your child or loved one is taking.

LGS involves many types of seizures, and no single medication works for all seizures.

Side effects
Most children who have LGS are given multiple medications to control seizures. The goal of this therapy is to balance optimum seizure control with minimal side effects.²

Different AEDs have different side effects. Taking multiple medications can result in both stronger side effects and different side effects.³ Also, children who show improvement initially from one medication may become tolerant to a drug and resist its effects.¹

As a result, your doctor must consider if the potential advantages of combination therapy outweigh potential disadvantages.³

Some families may choose to add non-medicinal options to their child’s treatment plan.

Learn more: Diet and other therapies »

References:
^1.	NINDS Lennox-Gastaut information page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Web site. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/lennoxgastautsyndrome/lennoxgastautsyndrome.htm Updated June 15, 2010. Accessed September 27, 2010.
^2.	Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Epilepsy Foundation Web site. http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about/types/ syndromes/lg.cfm. Accessed September 27, 2010.
^3.	Bourgeois BFD, Gilliam F. Adjunctive and combination therapy. In: Engel J Jr, Pedley TA, eds. Epilepsy: A Comprehensive Textbook. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; 2008: 1321-1325.