Epilepsy

Sudoku puzzles may serve as a "brain workout" but in a case reported in Germany, the exercise proved too strenuous. Solving the puzzles gave a 25-year-old man seizures.

A Canadian company announced it would invest $100 million (US dollars) in Jamaican marijuana research and development. A Colorado company also plans to invest there. Though marijuana has long been grown in Jamaica and exported illegally, the island's government decriminalized medical use in February.

Patients, especially young patients with some of the rarer forms of epilepsy may benefit from taking cannabidiol for their conditions. While based from marijuana plants the medication does not have many of the traits of other forms of medical marijuana.

As one of the first signs of multiple sclerosis acute optic neuritis can be a worrying symptom for patients. Finding the proper treatment can be important in the early stages of diagnosis.

Changing kids' diets has been shown to help control epileptic seizures. But until recently there was little data on whether strict dietary regimens are beneficial for adults with epilepsy. Reporting at the American Epilepsy Society's annual meeting in Seattle, WA today, two research teams said they have had some success with diet modification as a way to reduce seizures in adults with drug-resistant epilepsy.

A recent study has discovered that children with both ADHD and recent-onset epilepsy display a unique brain morphology compared to healthy patients.

The development of epilepsy and subsequent seizures was prevented in animal models following the use of losartan, a common hypertension drug.

Infants with autism who were fed soy-based formula had more seizures than their counterparts fed dairy-based formulas, according to a study published in PLOS ONE.

Researchers identify several independent risk factors for the development of severe and/or symptomatic hyponatremia in patients on oxcarbazepine therapy.

Study shows levetiracetam, carbamazepine, and topiramate are equally safe and effective in the treatment of adult patients with epilepsy induced by MELAS. However, valproate was found to be less effective and associated with more adverse events.

Study finds link between autoimmune skin disease and several neurologic disorders, including dementia, MS, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease.

The American Epilepsy Society held its annual meeting, "the premiere conference for epilepsy and other seizure disorders," in Seattle in December 2008.

Who would have thought a video game console featuring games with flashing lights could help treat children with epilepsy?

Epilepsy is an incurable neurological disorder that affects more than 2.5 million people nationwide and 40 million worldwide. There are, however, many treatments available that have shown to control the incidence of seizures.

In an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's website with hundreds of pictures.