Treatment

If you’re diagnosed with epilepsy, you’ll need need to look at your treatment options with your doctor. The first step is usually to find an epilepsy medicine which works for you.

But if your seizures are hard to treat with epilepsy medicine, there are other treatments that could help.

Read on for more information about the different treatments for epilepsy.

A senior man wearing glasses looking at a bottle of medicine
A hand holding two packets of medical pills

Epilepsy medicines

Taking medicines to stop or reduce your seizures is the main treatment for epilepsy.

For information about medicine shortages or delays, you can visit our ‘Drugwatch’ pages.

Surgery

For children and adults surgery is sometimes offered as a form of epilepsy treatment.

A group of three surgeons performing surgery on patient in operating room
a doctor showing a epilepsy treatment leaflet to their patient

Other treatment  options

There are additional treatments that may be offered to people if they are appropriate.

Finding the right treatment  

Getting the best treatment to manage your epilepsy is key.

Find out more about what to expect from healthcare services in your area.

A doctor giving their patient a diagnosis
Why are there differences across UK countries?

In some countries, there are different laws and rules that may affect they way that treatment programmes are managed. This is particularly relevant to people living with epilepsy in Northern Ireland.

Useful downloads

Your epilepsy

This brochure gives an overview of epilepsy, living with epilepsy and the support you can get from Epilepsy Action.

Surgery for children in England

A selection of medicinal herbs

Complementary treatments

Complementary treatments may be used alongside epilepsy medicines but should not replace them.

This information explains what some of the most used complementary treatments are, and whether there is any evidence about their usefulness in treating epilepsy. It also looks at whether there are any safety concerns.

Find out more

Here to support you

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Call the Epilepsy Action helpline

If you would like to talk to someone about epilepsy, our trained advisers are here to help.

0808 800 5050
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Send us your question

Send a question to our trained epilepsy advisers. (We aim to reply within two working days).

Contact us today

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