FAQs

Q. Is epilepsy hereditary?
A. The role of genes or heredity in epilepsy is quite small. If one parent has epilepsy that has no known cause, then the risk is about four percent that one of his children will have epilepsy. If both parents have epilepsy, the percentage goes up slightly.

Q. Will someone with epilepsy always have it?
That depends. Some people find that their epilepsy goes into remission after a few years. Others will continue to have seizures, unless they take medication to prevent them.

Q. Is there a cure for epilepsy?
A. No, not yet. Medications don’t cure epilepsy the way an antibiotic can cure an infection. They only work if they’re taken regularly. That doesn’t mean the person has to take them the rest of his/her life. If a person goes for a long time without a seizure, the doctor may recommend slowly discontinuing medications to see what happens. However, that is something only a doctor can advise you about.

Q. How many people have epilepsy?
A. About one teen in 100 has epilepsy. More than 3 million people in the United States have some form of epilepsy. Thirty percent of them are children under the age of 18. A large number of children and adults have undetected or untreated epilepsy.

Q. What are the medical treatments for epilepsy?
People with epilepsy take daily medication to control their seizures. In addition, there are other treatments that can be used successfully with some people. These include:

• Brain stimulation via a large nerve in your neck called the vagus nerve. This procedure involves surgically implanting a small device in the person’s upper left chest and attaching it to the vagus nerve. Regular electrical impulses are then sent to the brain.
  
  
• A diet called the ketogenic diet. This diet includes lots of fat and hardly any carbohydrates. This diet is mostly used with young children and is not a do-it-yourself diet. It is serious medicine and you have to be really disciplined to make it work.
  
  
• Surgery to remove a small area of the brain may work for some people, but is always a treatment of last resort.

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