Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological diseases, affecting 300,000
Canadians. One in 3 epilepsy patients have refractory seizures meaning that all antiseizure
drugs fail to control their seizures. This drug resistance in epilepsy may be related to the
over expression of multidrug resistance proteins (MDR). Varapamil inhibits MDR. We propose to
add verapamil/placebo to patients' anti epilepsy medication for 3 months. Patients who
receive placebo will have verapamil added for 3 months after the completion of the
double-blind treatment period. Seizure frequency/severity will be tracked. Blood samples for
DNA will be collected. There will be 9 clinic visits over 32 weeks. ECG and echocardiogram
will be done at baseline and repeated if necessary