Find a Doctor
Find a Neurologist
There are many ways to find a neurologist, including requesting a referral from your primary care physician, doing an Internet search, asking for recommendations from friends or family members who’ve seen a neurologist, or contacting the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan for assistance. Another helpful resource is the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. You can use their search tool to find Board Certified neurologists. You can also see if a neurologist is Board Certified in any subspecialties, like child neurology, sleep medicine, clinical neurophysiology, or epilepsy. This site does not provide contact information, however, so you may want to contact Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan or do some additional research to obtain that.
Find an Epileptologist
In many cases, a neurologist or general practitioner can successfully treat epilepsy. In any of the following circumstances, however, seeing an epileptologist (a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy) is recommended:
- if two tolerated and appropriate medications have failed to control your seizures
- if you’ve been seeing a general neurologist, and your seizures have not been brought under control after 12 months
- if your seizures are controlled, but the resulting medication side effects are difficult to tolerate
- if your doctor is unsure of your diagnosis
- if you have complications from epilepsy (e.g. memory problems, depression, etc.)
- if you’re a woman with epilepsy considering pregnancy
The term “epileptologist” is somewhat loosely defined. An epileptologist should be a neurologist with one ore more of the following qualifications:
- Completion of a one- or two-year fellowship in epilepsy (this may be referred to as an epilepsy fellowship or a clinical neurophysiology fellowship; some clinical neurophysiology fellowships focus on epilepsy and EEG; others focus on neuromuscular medicine and EMG; and some may include both)
- Board Certification in epilepsy (by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology)
- Interest in epilepsy, combined with extensive experience in treating primarily patients with epilepsy
Epileptologists may work at a Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, in private practice, or at a smaller hospital-based epilepsy program. Contact Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan (800-377-6226) for assistance in finding an epileptologist in your area. In addition, many epileptologists are American Epilepsy Society (AES) members. The AES Find a Doctor search tool can help you find epilepsy specialists near you.
Find an Epilepsy Center
Most epileptologists see patients at a Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. Each center is staffed by a team of epilepsy experts, including epileptologists, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, EEG techs, and others. They also provide access to the full range of diagnostic and treatment options.
