Nearly 70% of people with epilepsy do not experience significant reductions in symptoms of depression following cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), according to a review from the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.
Epilepsy Ireland and our partner organisations in the FACS Forum Ireland welcomes that the Health Service Executive is taking the step of directly writing to women taking Sodium Valproate (Epilim) in the coming weeks to highlight the risks of the drug in pregnancy and to inform them of recent changes to how the drug is prescribed and monitored.
Cannabidiol (CBD) was shown in a new large-scale, randomized, controlled trial to reduce the number of seizures in patients with a severe form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. The study was conducted with Epidiolex which is manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals.
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Valproate (Epilim) is a medicine licensed in Ireland to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder.
If a woman becomes pregnant while taking Epilim, their baby is at risk of serious birth defects and developmental disorders. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), has recently put in place new measures to avoid exposure of babies to Epilim in the womb.
Minister for Health Simon Harris has stated that parents affected by the drug sodium valproate have been 'let down' after the issue was raised yesterday in the Dáil by Fianna Fail TD, Bobby Aylward.
The Minister met with a selection of parents affected by the drug last month and has expressed his commitment to the issue.
"Unlike in the past with other people in the Department of Health I've taken a very interest in this issue", said Minister Harris.
A new partnership between FutureNeuro, the SFI Research Centre for Chronic and Rare Neurological diseases based at RCSI and GreenLight Medicines, an indigenous Irish biopharmaceutical company has been formed to develop new cannabis-based treatments for drug resistant epilepsies, and in particular, childhood epilepsies.
Epilepsy Ireland is delighted to announce our rescheduled dates for Ireland's Ancient East Peaks Challenge which will take place on the 25th and 26th August.
To mark National Epilepsy Week (May 14th – 20th) which begins today, Epilepsy Ireland has announced results of a survey conducted among young people aged 16-21 on their experience of living with the condition.
The results showed that:
To mark National Epilepsy Week (May 14th – 20th) which begins today, Epilepsy Ireland has announced results of a survey conducted among young people aged 16-21 on their experience of living with the condition.