How effective are AEDs???

[hootie]

My son started depakote in December 2009 for absence seizures (I only saw two episodes during the 48 hour EEG...he had almost 140 episodes recorded during that time).

Pre-neurofeedback treatments and before depakote was started he had a QEEG which measured multiple spikes during the 20 minute period. After 20 sessions of NFB and since starting the depakote, his seizure level has diminished by 24%. I just wonder how much is attributed to NFB and how much is due to depakote.

I guess I'm just surprised about the amount of seizures he is still having even though he is on depakote.

Over all, he seems to be doing better. But, how effective should I expect an anti-epileptic drug to be???

[Rae1889]

I guess it varies from person to person, as im sure there are plenty of people who do not respond to depakote and planti who get worse on it.

it would be really hard to tell without eliminating the med.

[Nakamova]

Is your son still having actual seizures, or only showing seizure activity in the brain? If it's the latter, then it's likely that the Depakote and NFB are doing the trick, keeping your son from going over the tipping point into a seizure. If it's the former, then the medication and/or dose may need to be adjusted to see if full seizure control can be achieved. There are no guarantees unfortunately, what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for someone else, and sometimes they can make things worse.

[hootie]

I was seeing some absence seizures before starting Depakote. Now I am hardly seeing any (mostly when he is tired). I know the depakote is helping but I guess I was just surprised that there was still so much seizure activity "on paper".

[Nakamova]

Usually when spiky stuff shows up on the EEG, it just means that you have a low seizure threshold. A lot of the meds don't stop the spiky brain waves, they stop them from spreading -- sort of like having a circle of water with a fire in the middle. The meds are the "moat" keeping the brainwaves from spreading.