Anti epileptic Drugs

 CHAPTER 30 
Antiepileptic Drugs 

Competency covered

PH 1.19: Describe the mechanisms of action, types, doses, side effects, indications and contraindications of the drugs which act on the CNS (antiepileptic drugs).

Epilepsies These are a group of disorders of the CNS characterized by paroxysmal cerebral dysrhy­thmia, manifesting as brief episodes (seizures) of loss or disturbance of conscious­ness, with or without characteristic body movements (convul­sions), sensory or psychiatric pheno­mena. These episodes are unprovoked, unpredictable and their frequency is highly variable. Recent research has shown that epilepsy is not only a symptom of focal brain dysfunction, but also a network disease. The manifestations depend on the site of the focus, regions into which the discharges spread and postictal depression of these regions. Recognised from the dawn of history as ‘disease of lighten­ing’, it was correctly described by JH Jackson little over a century ago.