Q: I want to know in detail, the treatment (drugs and side effects), duration of treatment and prognosis of Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. Please tell me the details of any institution that specialises in the management of this disease.

A:Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy form 9-10% of all epilepsy in adults. It startsin the 2nd decade 10-20 years of age and has myoclonus (sudden jerks) usually early morning and rare fits. It has a good prognosis i.e no evidence of mental change etc and if properly treated the fits stop. Unfortunately when treatment is stopped 80% may recur so treatment has to be continued. The drug of choice is Sodium Valproate from 400-800 mg daily usually. If this does not control fully Clonezepam can be added. The disease is common and any good neruological centre has enough expertize on the subject and so special institute need to be looked for.