Ask an Expert Series: Medication Resistant Epilepsy

In Australia, approximately 14,000 people are diagnosed with epilepsy each year and around 250,000 people are currently living with epilepsy.

What many people don’t know is that about a third of people with epilepsy continue to have seizures despite treatment. This is often called medication or drug resistant epilepsy.

Having medication resistant epilepsy and poorly controlled seizures can be a heavy burden and significantly affect someone’s quality of life. Despite the development of many new anti-seizure medications in the last 20-30 years, these figures have not changed and there is still the same proportion of people with epilepsy that continue to have medication resistance. Thus, there is a conclusion that medication resistant epilepsy is biologically determined and innate in some forms of epilepsy.

This does not mean that if seizures are poorly controlled that a person has medication resistant epilepsy. Sometimes there are other reasons such as:

• The diagnosis is wrong; misdiagnosis is relatively common
• The medication is not the right choice for the seizure or epilepsy type
• Lifestyle choices may be affecting seizures (examples: stress, poor sleep, alcohol, missing medications) or the person may not be aware of their seizure triggers, and therefore unknowingly exposing themselves to situations that may worsen their seizures.

To improve awareness about these issues, Epilepsy Action Australia has partnered with medical technology company LivaNova to create an Ask an Expert Series: a video series of discussions with esteemed experts to provide you with impactful knowledge and insight on topics that affect people living with medication resistant epilepsy.

This series was inspired by the need to educate people about their options for achieving improved seizure control. One in three people do not gain full seizure control and are often not aware there are other treatment options for seizures. These people are often not referred to the appropriate specialists to investigate options which could potentially improve their seizure control and their quality of life.

The Ask an Expert Series was initially aimed at people with medication resistant epilepsy, however, following a positive response, the series now focuses on broader issues pertinent to people with epilepsy, such as depression, epilepsy in children, and women with epilepsy.