The time to stop medication for epilepsy is determined by the patient’s seizure category, age of onset, and control of the condition, etc. Some epilepsies can only be considered for medication discontinuation after 4 to 5 years of complete control, and a few patients need long-term medication.
Epilepsy can include generalized tonic-clonic seizures, tonic seizures, clonic seizures, partial seizures, and catatonic seizures, depending on the characteristics at the onset. Different categories of seizures use different types of medications, different dosages of medications, and different durations of medications.
For tonic seizures, clonic seizures, and generalized tonic-convulsive seizures, complete control is required for 4 to 5 years before drug discontinuation can be considered, and the principle of slow and gradual dosage reduction needs to be followed.
For partial seizures or catatonic seizures, six months after the cessation of seizures, can begin to consider stopping the drug, with automatisms, consider long-term use of the drug.
Epilepsy drug discontinuation needs to follow the principle of gradual reduction and discontinuation, generally not less than 1~1.5 years without seizures, before discontinuing the drug. It is best to listen to the doctor’s advice and standardize the treatment of epilepsy medication reduction, drug change and discontinuation.