Well, I followed a link for Veterans with Epilepsy. There, I downloaded some artiles they wrote for Veterans. Basically, yes, it's scattergun. They try one med. If that does not work you get another. If that does not work, you get two meds. How in the hell can you tell if either medication is working if you are taking two? Then, on my own, I have now researched enough National Institute of Health, International League Against Epilepsy, etc, watched youtube, etc, and I know better than that. I found out that some genes gate for sodium, some for potassium, and then there are a lot of other things I did not read. I read the ones on genes I found in my 23andme file I uploaded to Promethease which as a free DNA SNP database. You upload your file. You pay a small fee. You can download your file anytime there are updates, even if there are not updates. You can do a search on your own genes. Now, that database is free, from around the world, shared with organizations who share gene data. So, it may not be perfect or totally up to day or as good or better than getting genes tested in a lab. But, that said, I learned about my own genes so far. And, from that I learned about some genes your positive flow for sodium or potassium and some are negative flow gates. In the epilepsy scientific literature, they are figuring out which genes control sodium and potassium and whatever else they can figure out. I did read that Carbamazepine exacerbates Myoclonus. And, that is what happened to me. I began having Myoclonic drop attacks in my legs. I had them in my neck and trunk. Anyways, my point is it is hundred percent true that the scattershot method of giving meds is wrong for so many reasons, science being one.

This is interesting. I was at the hospital 48hrs ago. I have been diagnosed with TEA (temporal epileptic amnesia) and TLE (temporal lobe epilepsy). I have been prescribed Lacosamide which in the main has worked very well for the TEA, but hasn't helped much with the TLE. I have found the TLE to be cyclical. (Approx every 4-5 weeks). My neurologist said this was not normal and suggested it was functional (Mental health). However, it was clear he hadn't even read my history before my appointment. He suggested an ambulatory eeg, which I had already had previously. That was how he diagnosed me in the first place....feckin idiot...I absolutely agree that they take a scatter gun approach and hope to hit the target. As it happens I had recently seen the neuropsychologist who gave me a clean bill of mental health. Christ on a bike...I just want someone to look at my history, believe what I'm telling them, show a little empathy. Not make me feel like a fraud...think I might have gone off track there....😖

Thanks. Yes, as Cathy says, what drives what. With cancer we know that genetic mutations cause uncontrolled cellular growth in part of the body which leads to the formation of tumours. With Seizures we have not got that first part yet - the cause. Why does the brain sporadically produce unexplained discharges? I knew. Before touching an AED. I knew how to prevent generalised seizures. The problem is that we don't have the medical understanding of the brain to be able to reliably treat so much of what it does - and I am cared for by some of the leading epilepsy specialists on the planet. They need to understand point one (as with cancer), before real progress can be made.

I agree about fear of dementia. When I first learned that I had Frontal Lobe Atrophy from reading the notes on my radiology chart on an MRI in 2009, I began researching that immediately. Frontal Lobe Dementia is a thing. I was in my early forties and that is an early dementia. Besides researching my heatlh and everything else under the stars, I play online video games. My mother had been playing video games for decades. My mom taught me how to play when I became disabled. She had moved out of state so the only way we could hang out was playing a video game online with each other. We used to do that every night. We both really resent the powers that be to change computers so we must upgrade. She can no longer afford to upgrade her computer so we have not played in some time. However, I upgraded and began to play with other people I became friends with online. What I realized when I was playing with my mother, she was using her mind and teaching me to continue to use my mind. All the challenging things we had to do, learn and keep learning, all of that plus communicating with each other really was helping to maintain our awareness and mental abilities. My youngest brother finally uploaded the phone version of the lastest phone edition of the same game we played but I play on computer and with friends I have made over years now. People from their thirties to seventies, I play with. Some do work but several have disabilities and/or retired for old age. Now, unfortanately, the movement causes me to have Myoclonus at times. So, last time they upgraded their game to a new version, they had added settings for the Blind and Color Blind. So, I use those tools in my game. I set my Color Blind settings so I am not seeing flashing lights. In fact, I only see pink, green, purple, oddly. There were 3 types of Color Blind settings. I set mine to what I felt would be easiest on my eyes. My daughter plays on xbox with the tv screen. So, I saw how vibrant the colors are for most people. But I get Head Drops. I would be playing on Xbox with my wife, some years back, and my head would drop. It was scary. It was as if my neck had been hanged in the Middle Ages as if I was hanged as a Witch. My hands would be still clicking the buttons on the controller. As I said, I use the Color Blind Option to address the intensity that used to trigger my Myoclonus. That said, it's my solution for dementia.

Albeit I agree with you about throwing AEDs at you can be horrendous. I was given AED for pain meds, nerve pain. That worked for my nerve pain. But I was given sleep meds for what I thought was a sleep disorder. Long story short, after 30 years of various paths through both natural and medical trials and errors, I would say that my last medication was close but it exacerbated my myoclonus. I did not know I had a medical condition. I thought they were muscle twitches all these years. But the Carbomazapine caused them to be so severe that I was breaking glasses, holding them while my hand twitches them to floor. But then I found out that I have myoclonus in addition to Frontal Lobe Nocturnal Seizures which the medication did in fact work for me for that condition. Now, I am onto a new medication. I will be starting it in a day or two or so. Neuro said it works on both Myoclonus and ADFLE.