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absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Tue, 07/03/2007 - 22:40
Hello, I didn't see another thread similar to this one, so here goes: My 6 year old son was diagnosed with absance seizures in January (we had noticed eye rolling that seemed to get "stuck" and asked the doctor at his 6 yr appt. and they sent him to get an EEG, now he sees a pediatric neurologist). There were several tiers of meds that he could go through..the first (sorry! I can't remember the name!) was supposed to prevent absance but not grand mal and of course, what did he have 2 of at school? So, now he's on Valproic Acid (I know that's the generic name, not sure what the brand name is!) and we haven't noticed any seizures at all. At first, we had grandparents and such telling us that they noticed he focused better on them when they were speaking to him (there was some concern about ADHD, but I didn't pursue it, wondering if it was just a young child's attention span!). He did not have any trouble in Kindergarten this year, and "graduated" on grade level for first grade. This summer, though, I've noticed a change in him. We had been trying to get him to stop sucking his thumb and he picked his "prizes" for going so many days without sucking his thumb, really into the whole program. Well, I've noticed in the past couple weeks, the focus is off, he's become more argumentative about things (although he is a sweet child and will apologize to me several hours later, we are pretty close!), and he's consistently sucking his thumb, not just when he's tired, which is when he would normally do it. I can't say that he's turned into a behavior problem or anything, just that he's not "right" and I think he feels it, too, when he apologizes to me of his own free will. No matter how much sleep he gets, he still tends to be whiny and very emotional. We had ended Kindergarten with him expressing his frustration better (asking for help, rather than crying about it), but now we're back to square one. There are times when this normally extroverted child seems very introverted and chooses to play alone, rather than be with friends. I've been over this with my husband and friends . . . is it because he's six or can it be something with his epilepsy or medication? Or just summer vacation? (I teach at the school he goes to, so while I don't normally see him during the day, he comes to me after school every day. Now that we're off for the summer, we're both home all the time). Is anyone else experiencing something similar? As a P.S., I did pursue getting him into "child study" so that his teachers will understand the need for repeated directions, etc. that may affect his learning. It's not exactly a 504 plan, but a "continued child study" where we meet if necessary.

Comments

Re: Re: absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Submitted by meghan0 on Sun, 2007-09-02 - 19:51
HELLO MY NAME IS MEGHAN, I'M 8YRS OLD, I HAVE MYOCLONIC ASTATIC EPILEPSY, WHICH STARTED WITH ABSENCE SEIZURES AND PROGRESSED TO MAE. I'M ON DEPAKOTE,KEPPRA,TOPAMAX,KLONOPIN, AND SINCE THE DEPAKOTE AND KLONOPIN I HAVE HAD A BIG CHANGE IN MY BEHAVIOR AND EMOTIONAL STATE, I GET ANGRY EASILY, AND WILL BECOME PHYSICALLY AGRESSIVE,ESPECIALLY WITH A FLURRY OF SEIZURE ACTIVITY. I AM EASILY SADDENED AND FRUSTRATED. BEFORE I HAD ANY SEIZURES, I WAS A VERY EASY GOING LOVABLE GIRL. I AM SORRY AFTER THE FACT WHEN I BEHAVE LIKE THAT. I FEEL VERY SAD THAT I HAVE MISBEHAVED. IT REALLY CONFUSES ME BECAUSE I BEHAVE LIKE THAT. SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE I WANT TO HURT MYSELF AND DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY. MY DOCTOR AT DARTMOUTH TELLS ME THAT IT MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH MY MEDICATION AND POSSIBLE FRONTAL LOBE SEIZURES IN MY CASE. DR. MORSE TOLD ME TO DRAW PICTURES WHEN I AM ANGRY TO SHOW HOW I FEEL. I HAVE YET TO BE FULLY SEIZURE FREE, BUT HAVE COME FROM 50 TO 100 DROP SEIZURES A DAY TO JUST A FEW A DAY. I GO BACK TO DARTMOUTH IN 2 MONTHS TO BE READMITTED FOR A SECOND 24-HOUR EEG TO SEE WHERE I AM AT. HE REALLY WANTS ME TO BE COMPLETELY SEIZURE FREE. I GO TO COUNSELING AT SCHOOL. UNFORTUNATELY WE HAVE TO WEIGH THE RISKS WITH THE BENEFITS... ANY SUGGESTIONS... THANKS FOR READING AND I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR COMMENTS. - MEGHAN

Re: absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Submitted by elizabethc on Wed, 2007-07-04 - 20:33
Our son was dx with absence seizures in Jan of 2006. His emotional state in my mind has gone down hill since being on meds. But more recently it is his focus and behavior. At the end of school this year (finishing up 1st grade) the teacher told us that she was concerned about his ability to focus. She said she wasn't ready to say that he's ADHD because she knows his medical history, but his ability to focus needs help. I have noticed a decline in his ability to focus too. He is very smart, but can't even complete a one step command most of the time. And his attitude and behavior is awful. He seems to be mean, crabby, upset more times than not. He's not the happy little boy he use to be. Today was a really bad day. Hitting his brother, grandma, me, friends - his mind is messed up and it makes me want to cry. He even commented a couple of times that his brain didn't feel right. Fortunately we see his neurologist in a couple of weeks. By the way he is on Depakote sprinkles. I wonder how much of this is being 7 yrs old and how much of it is his meds. He gets about 9.5 - 10 hrs of sleep a night but it never seems to be enough. So I guess I don't have any advice but to say it sounds like we have similar problems and concerns.

Re: Re: absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Submitted by laura_vermont on Thu, 2007-07-05 - 09:38
I think that the real issue for me may have been that the issues were unexpected. All of the explainations of absence sz indicate that they are "benign". Drug side effects are protrayed as "minimal". No mention of the rest!!! I know that professionals are trying to be positive -- but I'd prefer honesty. Laura R. 6yo daughter w/ generalized E. Currently on Keppra. Failed Lamictal.

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