Hi shirls. Maybe the surgeon would disagree?

Has i said before richard it may get rid of some but not all, because i was offered the same treatment and the surgeon told me there was no complete brain,and i passed love shirlxx

Hi shirls,

Sorry, but it's a fact that a % of those who are operated on are completely cured of E.
True, it isn't 100% effective, but there are some (in some cases it's even the majority) that wil become seizure free.

Hit the various surgery types on this page to discover the stats:
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/types_surgery.html

There are different surgeries for different areas of ictal onset. Each of these areas has a different rate of complete success.

-Temporal lobe resection is effective in approx 90% of cases in eliminating or highly reducing seizures
-extra cortictal resection (outside the temporal lobe) is effective in up to 65% of cases in eliminating or highly reducing seizures
hemispherectomy is effective in over 75% of cases in eliminating or highly reducing seizures

All surgical patients must remeian on seizure meds after surgery for up to two years. Some still may remain with seizures, and must continue seizure meds.

FOR ME...Having surgery...if a possibility..is an option. I cannot sit and do NOTHING. If there is something I can do that will have up to a 90% chance of reducing or eliminating my DAILY seizures then I wil take it. I can not in good conscious sit here and say "no I will not do it...I would rather continue to have daily seizures, continue allowing them to damage my brain every day, continue seeing them effect my daily life, my brains activiy, and my famaily, when there is an action I can take to possibly stop them"

I know there is also that possibility it may not work. But doing nothing will give me that same outcome.--nothing--

So I can have the surgery and and do something to combat this terrible thing that effects me....or I can sit back and let it defeat me...I for one will not accept that I can do nothing.

That is my choice--I have seizures every day...Medda are not working...they keep gettign worse despite what we do with my meds...we up my meds and 6-8 weeks later they get worse again...up my meds....6-8 weeks later they get worse again....and the side effects to the meds get worse again. Surgery is a very good alternative...at least it gives me a fighting chance.

I have to agree with Shirls, to date I was on different meds, finally a VNS implant, that works to some degree, but any surgery is not a cure all, once you have the big E, it's not as simple as getting a face lift, their are always chances of seizures.

I do hope hope you the best, keep us informed of what is going on

I was told last year by a top surgeon, a year on the 22nd October about having a brain operation and the words he said was there is no complete cure i would never write this if it wasnt a true fact especially to my friends so i had a vns put in instead which stops the gran mals which were lasting over 1 hour or more. 9 granmals were alot to cope with but when the vns goes across my chest, i have 1 gran mal lasting just 10mins or 15mins most love shirlxx

Most things are not a "complete cure" in medicine. Some are. In this case With EP there are NO complete cures. None of the options we have are a cure. We weigh the options, we weigh the risks, we weigh the choices we have to make armed with all the information we can gather. Then we make the choice we feel gives us the best chance for the best outcome for us as individuals. Your choice was a VNS, mine might be surgery, someone elses might be to stay on meds, someone elses might be to use holistic medicine.

May 2006 I had surgery for a Chiari malformation. Also not a cure. It stops the progression of the illness. You still have symptoms, you still have problems. --but with Chiari it is the one way to stop your brain stem from continuing to crush your spinal cord causing nerve damage, to stop your cerebellum from getting squeezed in a space to small for it--but not everyone with chiari chooses to have the surgery. Again--they weigh their options and they make their own choice.

WELL I WILL AGREE THAT SURGERY DOESN'T COMPLETELY CURE THEM... I HAD 5 SURGERYS---1993,1995 AND 3X'S IN 2005. THEY ARE 10X'S BETTER AND MY TUMOR IS GONE BUT IT IS SCAR TISSUE THAT IS CAUSING THE SEIZURES NOW!! IF ITS NOT ONE THING IT IS ANOTHER.

uhm.. no offense,
but thats not necessarily true
because, i had had brain surgery 3x, and i have been seizure free for almost 2 years now! and it all depends on where the seizures are coming from in the brain, and how bad it is. its not necessarily like, going to get rid of all of it for everyone, cuz everyone has different health problems [epilepsy wise]. for some people, brain surgery had saved their lives, and gotten rid of their seizures, for others it didnt. and, i think that my brain surgeries were my cure for epilepsy they removed the whole tumor, every piece of it, and now i no longer have any seizures. so not trying to be rude, but youre kind of wrong

Its ok your not being rude when you said about being seizure free after surgery i am happy for you but if you our how many isnt love shirlxx

Hi again shirls,

Your physician was correct in telling you that surgery can't eliminate generalized seizures.
However, it potentially can, and often does, completely eliminate partial seizures. Not in all cases but in many.
Older than you, I had both simple and complex partials, since I was three years old. I had surgery, almost 2 years ago, when they discovered and removed a benign tumor and I have had no seizures since.
I'm now completely off anti-seizure meds, for the first time in my life.

Hi Shirls,

I hate to say this but I think you have the wrong approach to Brain surgery for Epilepsy. I had Brain surgery on 4th January of this year and I have been seizure free nine months now. I had epilepsy since I was 11 months old and I am now 27.I was suffering with complex partial seizures and they were getting worse. I have a total new lease of life and I am glad I went through the surgery. My medication is continually being reduced and now I am not on as near as much medication as I was on. Take care
Raid.

For some it will get them under control. I know one person who had the surgery and for 7 years now they have been seizure free. But it is guaranteed to reduce the amount you have, but it's no guarantee to control them. I was having over 100 per month. Had the right temporal lobectomy and then I was having 8 to 12 per month. But i also have scar tissue on the left side we found out.

I had an AVM (Arterial, Venal Malformation) (I think) and had it resected when I was 19 I had ten years clear of seizures altogether after that I developed Simple Partial Seizures (caused by the scarring from the operation) which I don't like but are a hell of a lot better than the Grand Mal Seizures I was having before my op. I believe that if the benifits are going to outweigh the risks it is worth a try, surgery is so much better than it was when I had mine done and yet even I have gained so much from having it. Good luck to all of you.

hi shirls i hd epilepsy surgery 6months ago ang the surgery was a great success and ive been seizure free ever since but i had a great surgeon take care susan