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Personality changes

Fri, 01/07/2011 - 13:04

My daughter was diagnosed with petit mal seizures or absence seizures over a year ago. She's been on both lamictal and topomax for the last 8 months. Recently we've noticed that she is starting to have several seizures a day ranging from very minor to strong. But one thing we've started to notice is that after several small ones she gets very mouthy, and doesn't listen, and well her personality changes from happy go lucky to mad and angry. Does anyone see this with their kids. I know she's a kid and will do those things but for her it seems to be amplified. We've done another EEG and will get the results next week. The neuro and I feel she is having more and I feel that the medication she is on is causing some of the behavorial problems.

Comments

Re: Personality changes

Submitted by angelacarwile on Fri, 2011-01-07 - 13:49

Hi there. Unfortunately, it's most likely a combination of both. Seizures themselves cause us to become nasty at times; not to mention the fact that some AED's cause aggression and anger. The two together can make for a mean, mouthy teenager.

Even as an adult, I find myself having terrible mood swings after and sometimes before a seizure. I don't do it on purpose, but I get this feeling of boiling nastiness inside. As much as I try to hold it in, it slips out from time to time. I think it's all part of the stress, anxiety and sometimes depression that comes with having seizures. Regardless of how many people she may have supporting and encouraging her, it's hard sometimes not to feel like you're all alone in a dark hole and no one understands.

I hate it that your little girl has to go through this. Being that she's newly diagnosed, I agree her medication may play a big part and possibly need to be adjusted. If her seizure activity has increased, expect even more behavioral changes. Try to be as patient as possible; she really can't help it until she becomes stabilized. I know it's easier said than done. I'll keep you in my prayers:)

God bless you and your family.

Angela

Hi there. Unfortunately, it's most likely a combination of both. Seizures themselves cause us to become nasty at times; not to mention the fact that some AED's cause aggression and anger. The two together can make for a mean, mouthy teenager.

Even as an adult, I find myself having terrible mood swings after and sometimes before a seizure. I don't do it on purpose, but I get this feeling of boiling nastiness inside. As much as I try to hold it in, it slips out from time to time. I think it's all part of the stress, anxiety and sometimes depression that comes with having seizures. Regardless of how many people she may have supporting and encouraging her, it's hard sometimes not to feel like you're all alone in a dark hole and no one understands.

I hate it that your little girl has to go through this. Being that she's newly diagnosed, I agree her medication may play a big part and possibly need to be adjusted. If her seizure activity has increased, expect even more behavioral changes. Try to be as patient as possible; she really can't help it until she becomes stabilized. I know it's easier said than done. I'll keep you in my prayers:)

God bless you and your family.

Angela

Re: Personality changes

Submitted by halfpint29 on Fri, 2011-01-07 - 14:56
Besides behavioral problems have you seen a change in memory. When doing homework she reads a sentence gets a simple word right but read the sentence wrong. So we have to do it again but now that easy word she doesn't know and then the time we take to sound it out and re-learn it she doesn't remember that block of time. This is all new territory for us. We were stable for quite awhile. 

Re: Personality changes

Submitted by angelacarwile on Fri, 2011-01-07 - 15:35
My first year was horrible! I used to have a photographic memory but when my seizures started I began having severe short term memory loss. It got worse while my body was adjusting to the medication. I was much like your daughter. I couldn't get through one sentence without forgetting what I had read or not understanding what it meant. This also happened in speaking. I would forget certain words or call a lamp a trash can or something along those lines. I had a lot of trouble comprehending or focusing on the simplest of things. I became so frustrated I just wanted to give up and isolate myself. I would imagine your daughter may feel the same way. On a brighter note it has gotten better with time. I have good days and bad. My biggest complaint now is I sometimes have blurred vision and have trouble focusing at times. The beginning stages of diagnosis and treatment are the hardest, mostly because it's so new and a shock to the system. I had to teach myself new ways of learning new things and use memory triggers

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