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Child's seizures and behavior

Angelia - posted on 06/10/2012 ( 1 mom has responded )

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My son's issues arose after having an appendectomy and surgery for abscesses (complications of appendectomy) and then returning to school. His teacher said that he 'blanked out' frequently during the school day once he returned after his hospitals stays.
Finally someone who witnessed one told us that they were absence seizures - we went to our pediatrician who sent us to the neurologist in Albuquerque. However, prior to our trip, my son had his first gran mal - this was the morning after a sleep-over where he had not gotten enough sleep and had a lot of screen time. We opted to not go on meds at this time. He didn't have any gran mals during the 2011-2012 school year, but did have as many as 10-12 absence in the mornings prior to getting to school. Then the weekend after school got out 3 weeks ago, he did another sleep-over with the same 'cocktail' of sleep deprivation, high sugar intake and a lot of screen time (video games - intense movies) and sure enough, he experienced his 2nd gran mal. His dad and I have never seen one! They both happened at the same house (his best friend's). So we know what triggers his gran mals. We decided to put him on Zarontin and we haven't seen any absence seizures in the last 3 weeks. However, we've also been strict about no screens, trying to watch his diet and he's getting a lot of sleep since we don't need to get up to go to school each morning.
I'm worried about his level of arguing, blaming, crying, and some aggression towards his 7 year old sister. Is it developmental or is it side effects of the drug? He will be 11 years old next week. It's hard to tell and I can say that he was an arguer before he began the drug. Also, he's had two gran mals - but Zarontin is for absence seizures. I am going to call his ped tomorrow and I'm feeling like we may need to go back to a neurologist. I was disaapointed because after his first gran mal - we drove to Denver to Children's Hospital and we never saw a neurologist - only a PA - so much time and money!
Anyone else with similar concerns? I just want to talk to someone.

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Cherish - posted on 06/19/2012

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Hi,
My son was recently dx'd w/seizures after a grand mal and a abnormal EEG(we too saw a PA,that is ANNOYING!!!)
My son has other medical/developmental "issues" so I do not know if this will be helpful at all...BUT I talked to neuro and asked about seizures and behavior,he too has had a increase in aggression.They said that having a seizure can make you moody.Did your son have a EEG?My sons EEG was abnormal in his left temporal lobe and I read ALOT about that and your left lobe is where the "behavior" center is.The other things I read,there was alot of moms saying things like the meds are causing more behaviors.

have you been to epilepsy.com? or the epilepsy foundation? they both have community's and message boards,and I think parents often have more info than Dr's give you

Epilepsy sucks,it is SO complicated,there is often more questions than answers.My son has grand mal and absence and petit mal seizures,and I get annoyed w/ neuro when they tell me "we don't know" or "its complicated".or "thats a good question"(ok good question but you are clueless??)..GRRR

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