Diagnosis and Treatment Diagnosing epilepsy and treating seizures successfully requires a team effort between you, your family and your health care team. It is important to consult with a neurologist if you have epilepsy or seizures because a neurologist is trained to care for people with neurological disorders. For some people it may be easy to diagnose and control seizures and epilepsy. For others diagnosing and treating epilepsy may be difficult. When seizures and epilepsy are difficult to diagnose or when the person is not responding to standard therapy (medication), it is recommended to consult with a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy who is called an epileptologist. To find a neurologist or epileptologist in Colorado, please contact the Direct Care Manager at the Epilepsy Foundation of Colorado at 303-377-9774 or info@epilepsycolorado.org. We can help you find a doctor who understands epilepsy and seizures. Participating in your treatment and being an advocate for yourself can impact your results. We encourage you to do a few simple things to effectively participate and advocate for yourself. Medicine is the most common treatment for controlling seizures and is almost always the first therapy. Medicine controls seizures for about 7 out of 10 people living … Continue reading →

BACKGROUND: Disabling tremor or ataxia is common in multiple sclerosis (MS) and up to 80% of patients experience tremor or ataxia at some point during their disease. A variety of treatments are available, ranging from pharmacotherapy or stereotactic neurosurgery to neurorehabilitation. To assess the efficacy and tolerability of both pharmacological and non-pharmacologic treatments of ataxia in patients with MS. The following electronic resources were searched: Cochrane MS Group trials register (June 2006), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (Issue 2, 2006), National Health Service National Research Register (NRR) including the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Directory (Issue 2, 2006), MEDLINE (January 1996 to June 2006), and EMBASE (Jan 1988 to June 2006). Manual searches of bibliographies of relevant articles, pertinent medical and neurology journals and abstract books of major neurology and MS conferences (2001-2006) were also performed. Direct communication with experts and drug companies was sought. Blinded, randomised trials which were either placebo-controlled or which compared two or more treatments were included. Trials testing pharmacological agents must have had both participant and assessor blinding. Trials testing surgical interventions or effects of physiotherapy, where participants could not have been blinded to the treatment, must have had independent assessors who … Continue reading →

Genomic Medicine NHGRI defines genomic medicine as "an emerging medical discipline that involves using genomic information about an individual as part of their clinical care (e.g., for diagnostic or therapeutic decision-making) and the health outcomes and policy implications of that clinical use." Already, genomic medicine is making an impact in the fields of oncology, pharmacology, rare and undiagnosed diseases, and infectious disease. The nation's investment in the Human Genome Project (HGP) was grounded in the expectation that knowledge generated as a result of that extraordinary research effort would be used to advance our understanding of biology and disease and to improve health. In the years since the HGP's completion there has been much excitement about the potential for so-called 'personalized medicine' to reach the clinic. More recently, a report from the National Academy of Sciences [dels.nas.edu] has called for the adoption of 'precision medicine,' where genomics, epigenomics, environmental exposure, and other data would be used to more accurately guide individual diagnosis [nimh.nih.gov]. Genomic medicine, as defined above, can be considered a subset of precision medicine. The translation of new discoveries to use in patient care takes many years. Based on discoveries over the past five to ten years, genomic medicine … Continue reading →