Epilepsy & Seizure Treatments

Working with you, your primary care physician and your family and friends, we will prescribe and adjust medications as needed for your type of seizures. Our focus is on controlling the seizures and avoiding side effects. There are more than 20 medication options for epilepsy.

You will need a referral for an appointment at the First Seizure Clinic. After you experience the initial seizure, our specialists offer rapid, accurate diagnosis, usually within two weeks of referral.

First Seizure Clinic Brochure

At Hartford Hospital, we operate a specialized in-patient unit where we can record EEG during seizures to help make the most precise diagnosis. Stays last about a week so we can record continuous brain activity. Rooms on the unit are all private and offer refrigerators, TV and Wi-Fi, plus room for visitors to stay with you.

Epilepsy Monitoring Unit Brochure

Changes in diet.

If medications aren’t effective to control your seizures, surgeries such as laser ablation, brain surgery, deep brain stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation can be effective in controlling seizures. We do have a careful assessment to ensure that any surgical option we offer is both highly likely to help and extremely safe. Once we explain your options to you, you can decide what treatment feels right.

Refractory epilepsy is the term given to seizures not controlled after trying two or three different medications.

The American Academy of Neurology recommends people who have refractory epilepsy be seen at comprehensive facilities like ours where specialists can recommend individualized treatment options for controlling the seizures and improving other related issues.

Refractory Epililepsy Care Brochure

We know through research that people who have seizures are more likely to also suffer from depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, psychosis and suicidal thoughts and behavior.

We are here to help you address these side effects of the epilepsy by working with mental health professionals, psychiatrists and social workers.

Mental Health & Epilepsy Brochure