X Best Seizure Medications that Have Low Side Effects
speciality medications
Having the best seizure medication with the least side effects can make a huge difference in your life.
Epilepsy is a condition that can cause seizures frequently, and often without warning. This can be alarming, disruptive, and harmful to an individual’s quality of life. Fortunately, there are medications that can help people with epilepsy experience fewer seizures—but the best seizure medications are far from one-size-fits-all treatments.
To pick the right epilepsy medication for you, from Lamictal to Zarontin, you need to carefully analyze its efficacy, side effect profile, and valuable patient feedback.
That may sound like a lot of work (and it is!), but working with a pharmacy that provides transparent medication information and pricing structures can significantly streamline your selection process and make it much easier to find and afford the high-quality seizure medication you deserve.
What Causes Seizures—And How Can We Treat Them?
Seizures happen when people have an excessive amount of abnormal brain activity.
Different people experience seizures differently. For some, a minor lapse in attention could constitute a seizure. For others, seizures come with severe, prolonged convulsions that may cause significant harm or damage to people and their immediate surroundings.
There are various triggers for seizures, or reasons why people may be more prone to having them. A predilection for seizures can be genetic or come after a severe brain injury or infection.
The Key Role Antiepileptic Medications Play
Antiepileptic drugs, sometimes referred to as AEDs, can help some patients reduce the frequency and severity of their seizures.
AEDs work by managing the brain’s electrical activity to help prevent abnormal neuron firing.
For many, this type of treatment is able to help control seizures.
For others, AEDs help minimize the side effects of life with epilepsy and help boost quality of life, even if seizures remain a chronic concern.
This is important. Epilepsy can come with many side effects beyond regular seizures, including drowsiness, dizziness, mental health impacts, and liver dysfunction.
Choosing the Best Seizure Medication for You
When you talk to your doctor about your options for seizure medications, they’ll likely want to walk through the following factors with you. Think carefully about each of the following questions—they’ll help you determine which treatment options are best.
Are you a child or an adult? Children and adults metabolize medications differently. Elderly patients may require tailored strategies, too. There are seizure meds that offer strengths and dosages appropriate for each developmental stage of life.
What type of seizures do you have? Seizures vary from local ones that just affect one part of the brain to generalized ones that have a much bigger range of effects. The best seizure medication for your unique symptoms will depend on those symptoms.
What side effects can you tolerate? Ideally, your seizure medication will cause zero side effects—but you can’t go into treatment assuming that will be the case. It may be possible that the most effective medication for you comes with minor side effects.
If there are side effects that are a deal-breaker for you, you need to know that going in. For example, if a medication causes drowsiness during the day and you have a job that requires constant alertness, that could be an issue.
Do you have other lifestyle parameters to consider? As we just noted, if your job requires constant alertness—e.g., you’re operating heavy machinery, or providing patient care—tell your doctor! They’ll be able to help you find a medication that doesn’t directly interfere with your lifestyle demands.
Your doctor will also help you navigate the other constraints these kinds of medications can put on you, such as the need for regular monitoring, dietary restrictions, and the potential for interaction with other medications.
Even after you receive a prescription for the best antiepileptic medication for you, you’ll need to continue working with a healthcare professional long-term to create and maintain your personalized treatment plan. This is the best way to ensure your epilepsy remains as controllable as possible for as long as possible.
Here are the Best Seizure Medications (With the Lowest Side Effects)
Interested in finding the best balance between medication efficacy … and the side effects you need to experience in order to get the treatment you need?
While finding that balance will depend on your specific needs and biochemistry, there are antiepileptic medications known for lower rates of side effects.
Take some time to learn about the following options, and then discuss them with your doctor to see if they’re good options for you!
Lamictal
Lamictal (lamotrigine) is a versatile anti-seizure medication with several uses; it’s also used to treat bipolar disorder, as it’s quite mood-stabilizing. Lamictal works by reducing the amount of abnormal electrical activity in the brain (activity associated with mood swings and seizures).
Your doctor will start you on a low dose to get you used to this medication, and to help you avoid side effects. Lamictal’s side effects can include rash, dizziness, and headache. However, since it can be used dually to treat both seizures and bipolar disorder or mood swings, it can be a very effective option to consider.
In America, 30 tablets of Lamictal can cost as much as $400.00.
You can buy Lamictal through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $0.70 per pill (savings of up to 90%).
Topamax
Topamax (topiramate) is a prescription antiepileptic that works by stabilizing brain electrical signals and blocking some signals that typically lead to seizures.
Topamax, like Lamictal, has a popular secondary use: It can be prescribed to help prevent migraines. Whether it combats migraines or seizures depends on the patient and the level of dosage recommended. For some, Topamax also has weight management benefits…but it does sometimes increase the likelihood of side effects, including speech difficulties.
In America, 30 tablets of Topamax can cost as much as $250.00.
You can buy Topamax through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $1.00 per capsule (savings of up to 87%).
Sabril
Sabril (vigabatrin) is a prescription antiepileptic that’s specifically known for treating both infantile spasms and some partial seizures for adults. It works by boosting the levels of GABA in the brain. GABA is a neurotransmitter that does a good job of blocking nerve transmission, which can be extremely helpful in assisting with seizure management.
You do need to be careful with Sabril dosing, however, as the side effects of Sabril can be dangerous. (One possible side effect is vision loss.) Your doctor will want to perform regular wellness and vision checks to make sure the medication is working and isn’t harming you in other ways.
In America, Sabril can be extremely expensive—with just one dry powder sachet costing as much as $200.00.
You can buy Sabril through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $1.50 per sachet (savings of around 90%).
Dilantin
Dilantin (phenytoin) is a very established anti-seizure medication. It works by slowing down brain impulses associated with seizures. Doctors will typically prescribe it for people who are suffering from partial and tonic-clonic seizures.
Since under- and over-dosing is very easy with Dilantin, your doctor will want to monitor you frequently to ensure your Dilantin dosage is staying in a good-for-you range.
You can buy Dilantin through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $0.25 per pill.
Depakote ER
Depakote ER (divalproex sodium ER) is an extended-release formulation, or a medication that drips out its dose slowly over a longer time, instead of all at once. Depakote ER is a drug that is used to treat various types of seizure disorders, as well as bipolar disorders and migraine headaches. Like many anti-seizure medications, it works by balancing brain levels of neurotransmitters.
The side effects of Depakote ER may include hair loss, dizziness, and drowsiness—so your doctor will likely want to work closely with you to help ensure that you have a healthy, convenient experience with this medication.
In America, 30 tablets of Depakote ER can cost as much as $270.00.
You can buy Depakote ER through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $0.50 per tablet (savings of up to 90%) with the generic available for much less.
Keppra
Keppra (levetiracetam) is a medication that can treat a wide range of types of seizures—making it a popular choice for prescriptions. It also doesn’t have many known unfavorable interactions with other medications, and a relatively good side effect profile.
That’s the good news. The reason Keppra isn’t a more universal choice is, unfortunately, its price…which can be quite high for patients who live in the United States.
In America, 30 pills of Keppra can cost as much as $250.00.
You can buy Keppra through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $1.00 per pill (savings of up to 90%) but there is a generic too – for less.
Tegretol XR
Tegretol XR (carbamazepine controlled release) is a form of carbamazepine that’s controlled-release—which means that it metes out the active ingredient over the course of the day, instead of administering it all at once. This can help ensure that you have more consistent blood levels of the medication, which can boost efficacy and reduce potential side effects.
The side effects of Tegretol are worth knowing about. They can include drowsiness, nausea, and dizziness, as well as some rare but severe skin reactions. Tegretol XR is used to treat various types of seizures, and can also be used for effective pain management.
In America, 30 pills of Tegretol XR can cost as much as $110.00.
You can buy Tegretol XR through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $1.25 per pill (savings of up to 65%) or buy generic Tegretol XR for a lower price from us.
Depakote/Depakote DR
Depakote/Depakote DR (divalproex sodium) is a drug often used to treat seizure disorders as well as migraines and specifically the manic phase of bipolar disorders. This active ingredient is available in a regular formulation, Depakote, or in a delayed-release formulation, Depakote DR. The delayed-release alternative might be worth pursuing if you have issues related to spiking blood levels of the medication.
Spikes in blood level concentration of this medication can be linked to its side effects, which can include GI issues and weight gain. If you decide to pursue treatment with either form of Depakote, your doctor will want to observe your symptoms to ensure this option is working well for you.
In America, 30 pills of Depakote/Depakote DR can cost as much as $260.00.
You can buy Depakote/Depakote DR through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $0.65 per pill (savings of up to 90%). Save more on the generic!
Trileptal
Trileptal (oxcarbazepine) can be used to treat partial seizures in both children and adults. It’s a medication very similar to Tegretol, but generally with a more favorable side effect profile.
Like Tegretol, Trileptal works by stabilizing the brain’s electrical activity—which usually helps prevent and control seizures. It doesn’t interact with many other drugs, and is usually well tolerated. Side effects of Trileptal do include dizziness, sleepiness, and nausea.
In America, 30 pills of Trileptal can cost as much as $225.00.
You can buy Trileptal through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $1.00 per pill (savings of up to 86%) or get the generic at a lower cost through us.
Tegretol
Tegretol (carbamazepine) is the non-extended release formulation of Tegretol XR, discussed above. It works in the same way, by decreasing nerve impulses associated with pain and seizures, but doesn’t drip out the medication over an extended period of time.
For some individuals, this will be perfectly okay. If, however, you find yourself dealing with painful side effects, you may want to talk to your doctor about the extended-release formulation of the drug.
In America, 30 pills of Tegretol can cost as much as $110.00.
You can buy Tegretol through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $0.25 per pill (savings of up to 90%). The generic is also available for a lower price.
Zarontin
Zarontin (ethosuximide) is a medication that is specifically used to treat absence seizures, or seizures that show up as sudden lapses in attention but no convulsive movements. Zarontin can help reduce the frequency of these seizures by modifying the rate at which calcium flows through the brain. Zarontin cannot help with any other type of seizures, but for absence seizures, it’s remarkably helpful.
Side effects of Zarontin include GI symptoms and drowsiness.
You can buy Zarontin through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $0.75 per pill.
Searching For the Best Seizure Medication with the Least Side Effects?
The best medication for you will be a personal decision, one you should make in partnership with your trusted healthcare provider. Once you have a prescription, though, you need to be able to get the medication you require in a timely manner—and for an affordable price by buying drugs from Canada or internationally through us.
For many people in America, that sounds like a pipe dream. But it doesn’t have to be. Through NorthWestPharmacy.com, you can buy your chosen anti-epileptic medications for low costs (and with convenient shipping).
Interested in learning more? Chat with our friendly, experienced patient care representatives for more information, or even seek their assistance placing an order—we’re here to help! The team at NorthWestPharmacy.com looks forward to supporting you as you pursue the high-quality treatment you deserve.
