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Is anyone NOT medicating for Absence Seizures?

Wed, 02/03/2010 - 14:14

HI - our daughter was diagnosed over the summer with Absence Seizures. Her pediatric neurologist has recommended starting her on Ethosuximide. She has assured us that the side effects are primarily "upset stomach" and that can remedied by taking the medication with food.

 We are new to all of this and quite overwhelmed. Currently, these seizures are not interferring with her school work, behavior, or social activities. Since it is most likely that she will "out-grow" them we are reluctant to start medication.

 Is there anyone "out there" who has never medicated OR started the medication and then stopped it b/c of the side effects?

We don't want to make the wrong decision. Thank you for any insight.

Comments

Re: Is anyone NOT medicating for Absence Seizures?

Submitted by CoughEbansLY@yahoo.com on Tue, 2012-10-16 - 05:39

Look into a book called Paleo Mind Paleo Body. The writer is a nuerofeedback specialist who gives gobs of scientific research to back her claim our bodies/brain are still designed for the pre-agricultural ancestral diet we lived on up until now. IE 'Organic grass-fed game and greens'. HERE IS WHAT'S NEW ABOUT putting an epiliptic on this type of diet.

She backs her claim that eating this food feeds your body the TYPE of fat it needs to heal the brain. She cured herself of more than one mental disorder (which we see all over this site) and has seen hundreds of others get the same result. Give your skin Vit E when you have a sun burn right? Give your BRAIN which is mostly FAT the GOOD fat and it will HEAL.

My fifteen year old little brother has been dealing with E for two years now. We don't know if it will go away. For the past year he has been having a GM every 7 and then 13 days like clockwork and has had his bouts with anxiety and depression. But never so bad as the Kep-Rage that had him banging on my moms door with a baseball bat and threatening scuicide when only a few weeks early he was literally happy-go-lucky...so we are still debating whether to medicate. The thing is, As his older sister I was wondering when I might have to do a serious step-in/intervention when he actually started getting better.

His seizures are gradually lessoning and his good mood/mellow times seem to be here for longer. The thing is we are dealing with a teenager here. The poor kid does not want to be missing school in the morning because he is too anxious/"twitchy"; he has those too.

 

He may grow out of it. This may be him getting better. We may have made his life worse by staving off traditional treatment. He may have killed himself if we kept him on it. We pray we pray we pray.

The diet is a gem of a resource. He looks like such a healthy strapping young man and he is a good athlete with plenty of energy because he is eating such incredibly nutricious food. It seems like good health is a blessing that always accompanies good mental health.

Look into a book called Paleo Mind Paleo Body. The writer is a nuerofeedback specialist who gives gobs of scientific research to back her claim our bodies/brain are still designed for the pre-agricultural ancestral diet we lived on up until now. IE 'Organic grass-fed game and greens'. HERE IS WHAT'S NEW ABOUT putting an epiliptic on this type of diet.

She backs her claim that eating this food feeds your body the TYPE of fat it needs to heal the brain. She cured herself of more than one mental disorder (which we see all over this site) and has seen hundreds of others get the same result. Give your skin Vit E when you have a sun burn right? Give your BRAIN which is mostly FAT the GOOD fat and it will HEAL.

My fifteen year old little brother has been dealing with E for two years now. We don't know if it will go away. For the past year he has been having a GM every 7 and then 13 days like clockwork and has had his bouts with anxiety and depression. But never so bad as the Kep-Rage that had him banging on my moms door with a baseball bat and threatening scuicide when only a few weeks early he was literally happy-go-lucky...so we are still debating whether to medicate. The thing is, As his older sister I was wondering when I might have to do a serious step-in/intervention when he actually started getting better.

His seizures are gradually lessoning and his good mood/mellow times seem to be here for longer. The thing is we are dealing with a teenager here. The poor kid does not want to be missing school in the morning because he is too anxious/"twitchy"; he has those too.

 

He may grow out of it. This may be him getting better. We may have made his life worse by staving off traditional treatment. He may have killed himself if we kept him on it. We pray we pray we pray.

The diet is a gem of a resource. He looks like such a healthy strapping young man and he is a good athlete with plenty of energy because he is eating such incredibly nutricious food. It seems like good health is a blessing that always accompanies good mental health.

Re: Is anyone NOT medicating for Absence Seizures?

Submitted by HollyInnes on Wed, 2010-12-08 - 16:18

All I can say to those who are not medicating your children with Absence Seizures that you are very fortunate that you can.  I am 33 years old and have had Absence seizures since I was 4 years old.  I began having only a few a day.  I was told there was a good chance I would grow out of them.  I hit my teens and they became worse...over 100 seizures a day.  I have always been medicated...and have been on several combinations of medications trying to find something that works.  Today I am on a combination of epival, topomax, and keppra.  On a good day I have 5 seizures...on a bad close to 100.  My life is as normal as anyone elses.  I have a great job for a financial institution.  I am happily married.  The only restriction on my life is I can not drive.  I encourage you to treat your kids like "normal" kids.  Encourage them to do all kinds of sports and activities.  But do know that teatment using meds early is probably the right thing to do.  It is nice to think that the seizures will go away on their own, but you have to face reality...your child has epilepsy and you should help them the best you can by treating them.  I also encourage you to talk to your doctors about the side effects of the medications.  I am on three different medications at very low dosages because being on just one at a high dose had very bad side effects for me. 

All the best to your families.

All I can say to those who are not medicating your children with Absence Seizures that you are very fortunate that you can.  I am 33 years old and have had Absence seizures since I was 4 years old.  I began having only a few a day.  I was told there was a good chance I would grow out of them.  I hit my teens and they became worse...over 100 seizures a day.  I have always been medicated...and have been on several combinations of medications trying to find something that works.  Today I am on a combination of epival, topomax, and keppra.  On a good day I have 5 seizures...on a bad close to 100.  My life is as normal as anyone elses.  I have a great job for a financial institution.  I am happily married.  The only restriction on my life is I can not drive.  I encourage you to treat your kids like "normal" kids.  Encourage them to do all kinds of sports and activities.  But do know that teatment using meds early is probably the right thing to do.  It is nice to think that the seizures will go away on their own, but you have to face reality...your child has epilepsy and you should help them the best you can by treating them.  I also encourage you to talk to your doctors about the side effects of the medications.  I am on three different medications at very low dosages because being on just one at a high dose had very bad side effects for me. 

All the best to your families.

Re: Is anyone NOT medicating for Absence Seizures?

Submitted by Amydav on Mon, 2012-03-26 - 12:39
I was wondering if anyone who had decided not to medicate their child, and to make modifications to diet or environmental factures, has any follow up feedback. I just realized my daughter has Absence seizures. She is 6, and has probably had these since she was about 4. I just thought she was "day dreamy". She is a happy, well mannered, developmentally "on target" little girl. I am really apprehensive to start pharmaceutical treatment for something that doesn't seem to be harming her ability to thrive at this point. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Amy Davenport

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