Introduction to medically intractable epilepsy:
In epilepsy one experiences seizures. Epilepsy is caused due to any kind of distortion in the normal functioning of the brain. An epileptic seizure is caused by over-activity of the brain cells, which produces a surge of electricity Epilepsy can be treated in several different ways. Medication, surgery and epilepsy diet are some of the methods of treating epilepsy. Sometimes the epileptic seizures become very persistent and refuse to stop despite of maximal medical treatment. This type of problem caused at the time of epilepsy can be termed as medically intractable epilepsy. The definition however may differ from case to case.

Common in adults:
Epilepsy is existent in adults as well as in children. In case of children the seizures are rarely severe, so the kind of epilepsy in children is 'tractable'. In most cases when the adult experiences severe seizures, the epilepsy becomes 'intractable'. The last resort at time point in epilepsy is surgery. The adults are however made to experiment on various medicines to avoid the decision of surgery. This shouldn't suggest that medically intractable epilepsy is completely absent in children. 

Myths:
Sometimes after having taken medication and finished the procedure, the patient may experience one or two seizures a day. Some people may wrongly define these seizures as intractable. At this point the individual should make medication adjustments. Different medication in mono or polytherapies could prove useful.

On the other hand there may be case of congenial malformation, when the patient may experience more that 400 seizures a day. These seizures sometimes are mistaken as intractable because of their high frequency of occurrences despite of continual medication. This is not a rare case.  This may be because of poor responses and not 'any' responses at all. In these cases trials of medication should be attempted.

In children:
There are endless reasons for the presence of intractable epilepsy in children. They are genetic transformation, prenatal abuse, and accident at birth, tumor, and infections to the brain. With the growth of technology and introduction of neuroimaging, the cases of children suffering from epilepsy have reduced.

The epilepsy case should be immediately treated ones the symptoms surface becomes prolonging the treatment can cause the epilepsy to become intractable, in some cases it necessary to do it just in order to cease the suffering.


For more excellent information about epilepsy visit: http://www.livingwithepilepsy.info