A. Depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and psychosis are all more common in patients with epilepsy. If patients have symptoms or a history of depression, antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) with adverse mood…
Status epilepticus (SE) can be categorized into convulsive and nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE). Generalized convulsive status epilepticus is the most commonly encountered form of status epilepticus and is defined as:…
In most cases, initial antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy is selected from a relatively short list of AEDs determined primarily by the suspected epilepsy syndrome, as previously described in Chapter 71….
Most patients with epilepsy achieve seizure control with medications. However, about 30% of patients have drug-resistant epilepsy. Drug-resistant epilepsy, often known as medically intractable epilepsy, is defined as continued seizures…
A. When choosing initial antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy for a patient with epilepsy, assess whether the suspected diagnosis is a focal or generalized epilepsy. In focal epilepsies, there is felt…
Evaluation of the patient with a first seizure is focused on determining (1) the risk of recurrence and whether antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy is warranted to reduce this risk, and…
Intracranial hypotension, or low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure, should be suspected in a patient with a positional headache that worsens within 15 minutes of standing and improves with recumbency. The…
Trigeminal neuralgia, also known as tic douloreux, manifests as recurrent attacks of abrupt, unilateral, severe stabbing (or electric-like) pain in the distribution of the trigeminal nerve. Typically, the mandibular or…
Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) encompass a group of primary headache disorders characterized by unilateral headache with ipsilateral cranial autonomic symptoms such as conjunctival injection, lacrimation, nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, facial sweating,…
Prophylactic therapy for migraine is aimed at reducing the frequency, and possibly severity, of recurrent migraine headaches. To maximize tolerability, it is important to start with low doses and titrate…
