1. Use Drug Therapies to Control and Prevent Seizures
While drugs can be used to treat a range of CP-related symptoms, including spasticity, sleep dysfunctions and post-surgical pain, their most common application lies in seizure control. Anti-convulsant drugs are typically prescribed to relax muscles and interfere with the brain's transmission of seizure-inducing signals.
These drugs fall within the depressant classification, and curb excess brain stimulation without affecting crucial bodily functions, such as respiration. Typically, cerebral palsy patients require higher dosages of these depressants to achieve the desired effects, and parents should discuss the side effects of long-term use with the child's supervising physician. In some cases, liver problems, sedation and drug dependence can result.
The control of seizures through drug treatments carries some risk to the patient. Tolerance to anti-convulsant drugs is common when they are used for prolonged periods, and doctors may need to switch the patient to a different drug when the dosage can no longer be safely increased. Withdrawal symptoms may then occur, which can, in extreme cases, be life-threatening.
2. Surgery Can Correct Muscle Spasms and Seizures
The primary application of surgery as a cerebral palsy treatment lies in correcting bone, joint, muscle and limb malformations; it also can be used to control seizures. The nerve endings that connect affected muscles to the brain can be severed, making it impossible for the brain to send those muscles the signals that trigger seizures. Additionally, implants that continuously release muscle relaxants into the patient's bloodstream also can be placed inside the patient's body via surgery.
3. Consider Alternative Treatments
One new technique showing considerable promise in controlling spasticity and convulsions is hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This technique uses pressurized oxygen primarily to improve the vision and hearing of children with cerebral palsy, but researchers found it also cuts spastic episodes by as much as half. While this treatment is still developing, it is expected to continue to grow more common as doctors refine its CP applications.
