seizure activity, absence seizures but doc says no meds

Danille - posted on 08/03/2011

Hi! My daughter is 5 and is on zarontin for absence seizures. It has been an ongoing battle with her medication since she started. She is very tall for her age and is growing very fast and it seems her medication dosage just can't keep up with her. Her seizures have lessened, but I do notice a change in her behavior in the afternoon when she is more sleepy. She gets very moody and aggitated easily. She also still has some breakthrough seizures. Her eyebrows raise up and down and sometimes she will even turn to you when she has one. I feel the medicine has helped but we are still trying to figure it out. When she first started it, the seizures went away for about a day. She went from 10-20 a day to about 1-2 a day if that so it is an improvement.

Kristen - posted on 11/28/2010

My son was never on meds, just vitamins. I recommend looking into the Feingold diet....it will help with the seizures and all the behavior issues. It was wonderful for my son! It was recommended to me by a woman who's son was diagnosed with Autism. He was on the diet and it was wonderful for him!

Lindsey - posted on 02/18/2009

Hi Connie, I am also new to this site. My son Brandon was diagnosed 2 months ago with absent seizures. Just one day he started having these blanking out sessions that only lasted a few seconds. Well after An EEG the Dr. confirmed he had absent seizures. We started him on Zarontin. Since the meds he has begun these terrible night terrors and loss of appetite. The dr. wants to keep him on the meds b/c the absent seizures can turn into grand mal rapidly. I'm trying to be patient and see if it's helping at all. I'll keep you updated, as well with you if you find anything interesting--Lindsey

LaKena - posted on 02/13/2009

My first piece of advice is to remember the importance of being your child's advocate. If you have doubts or concerns NEVER hesitate to get a second or even third opinion.



Now I'm not a doctor and I don't know if there is a certain level of activity needed before medication is an option, but I do have a five year old who was diagnosed with absence seizures at the age of one. She has been on Topamax ever since. We have had none of the side-effects listed on the packaging and I haven't observed a seizure in over a year.



We just saw her neurologist (University of Michigan Hospital) yesterday who now wants to let her outgrow her current dosing to see if she doesn't need it anymore (dosing hasn't been adjusted in over a year). In my book a seizure is a seizure - so seek a second opinion.

Jackie - posted on 02/12/2009

Hello Connie, my son has absence seizures also and his dr has put him on meds until we see the neuro but he has talked to the neuro about him and the situation. Ever since my son has been on his new med.Depakote he is very mouthy, doesn't pay attention in class and we have all kinds of behavior and learnig problems. So you know he may be right and I'm glad that I saw your post b/c I'm going to ask the neuro about my son when I take him on the 17th. The only thing that I've learned w/ this is that you have to try to show them a little more attention and understanding b/c it's not something that they can help. It's just as aggrevating to them as I think it is to us. So just hang in there and things will get better.

Jennifer - posted on 02/12/2009

Hi Connie...my son was diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism, at the age of 3. We began seeing a neurologist, who instinctively did a 24 hour EEG on him, and informed us that our son was having "pre-seizure activity". Immediately he was placed on Depakote. We had to stop seeing that neurologist, as he moved out of state, but we came across another neurologist whose name was brought up each and every time you talked about autism. Seeing as that my son had never had a tonic-clonic seizure, it was out decision together to wean him off Depakote, and for the next 2 years, we never saw any seizures or spaciness, etc. It wasn't until he had a 105 degree temp and was later diagnosed with pneumonia and had a follow-up EEG that showed the seizure was NOT related to his illness. We had future EEGs to confirm this as well. What I'm saying is...we didn't see any seizures until 2 years after he was taken off the meds. Just keep an eye out for any spaciness or if your child complains of auras or seeing spots, etc. Perhaps contact another neurologist for a second opinion.