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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: worriedmom2 I have an 11yr.

Submitted by worriedmom2 on Tue, 2007-08-21 - 09:01
worriedmom2 Sure! Any ideas? We are experimenting with a soda before school to see if caffiene (not a lot) will give him enough kick to keep him awake in school. I figure at this stage anything is worth a shot.

Re: absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Submitted by chiyoung27 on Sun, 2007-09-02 - 21:40
Hi, I am pretty new to this forum and our 6 year old son, Jacob, was diagnosed with epilepsy last August. He has been on numerous combinations of medications and now have finally narrowed them down to Depakote (sprinkles) and Neurontin. He also takes 3mg of Melatonin at night because it was hard for him to calm down and fall asleep. We weaned Jacob off of Phenobarbital two months ago and noticed since then that his academic skills were not where they used to be. He has trouble with memory, concentration, following directions, and word finding problems. He's also not able to read books that he has read many times before. He's always had some aggresstion from mild to severe from the medications. But he's never had any problems with academics. Then, since last week, we noticed that he hasn't been sleeping very well, was confused, irritable, throwing tantrums, and shivering in his sleep. I called the hospital and spoke to two neurologists (ours is on leave), they both told me that they couldn't lower his meds and that things should get better. Well, I didn't believe that one bit. We ended up taking him to the ER and had his levels checked. It turns out that his Depakote levels were toxic (double the levels they were two months ago!) and, they told us to lower his afternoon dose right away. We have to go back in two weeks to check his levels again to determine if we need to make any more adjustments to his dose. My hopes are that we can get him off of it completely because it has been a nightmare since starting this medication. The doctors keep telling me that all his side effects are not from Depakote but that maybe he's having constant seizure activity that we aren't aware of. Thank goodness that I didn't listen to the neurologists. This morning, we already saw a glimpse of the old Jacob (sweet, caring, thoughtful) and it made us cry. I can't believe that this medicine can change someone so much. We are hoping that the lower we go down on the Depakote, the better he will get. We also hope that he will regain his reading and writing skills. The doctor at the ER said that his academic problems could totally be from the Depakote toxicity. Don't let your doctor ever talk to out of something you believe is going on with your kids. We are also looking into the Vagal Nerve Stimulator, but we have to get the results from the EEG that he will be having in October. Anything sounds better than trying any more medications that cause him to be miserable. How long has he been on Depakote, and how often do you get his levels checked? If his side effects get worse, you should really find out what his Depakote level is at. It's so frustrating because the medications that is supposed to make our babies better, cause so many more problems. It's especially hard because they are school age. We want the best for our children and want them to do their best in school but these drugs make it impossible for them to shine. I wish we would have looked more into alternatives before exposing Jacob to so many seizure meds. I hope you find your answers and good luck to you and your family. Chi

Re: absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Submitted by haileysmom on Fri, 2008-10-10 - 07:38

hi i am currently having issues with my doctors and medication my 7 yr old daughter has been placed on zaronton and i am finding that the dose she is on i quite high for a child of her age and weight she is on 7.5 mg at night and on 6mg in the morning i find that the medication causes alot of problems ranging from what looks like bi polar episodes (extreme mood swings) sometimes exteme wakefulness or some times the exact opposite she does not sleep through the night and it does not seem to be helping with all of the seizures she has been on this medication for 3 years now and the doctors have not performed another eeg and i am begining to get concerned because it seems as though everytime i mention a concern to the doctor he shrugs it off.  when first diagnosed hailey was having 40 or more absance seizures daily now they are very sparatic and hard to catch but somehow know they are still there she is not always focused on the things she should be and is extremely forgetful some one please give me some imput if they think they can help with getting these things fixed

 

i am desparate and really dont know much about the disorder seeing as the doctors throw this problem on me and refuse to help break down exactly the type and sevarity of my daughters condion 

hi i am currently having issues with my doctors and medication my 7 yr old daughter has been placed on zaronton and i am finding that the dose she is on i quite high for a child of her age and weight she is on 7.5 mg at night and on 6mg in the morning i find that the medication causes alot of problems ranging from what looks like bi polar episodes (extreme mood swings) sometimes exteme wakefulness or some times the exact opposite she does not sleep through the night and it does not seem to be helping with all of the seizures she has been on this medication for 3 years now and the doctors have not performed another eeg and i am begining to get concerned because it seems as though everytime i mention a concern to the doctor he shrugs it off.  when first diagnosed hailey was having 40 or more absance seizures daily now they are very sparatic and hard to catch but somehow know they are still there she is not always focused on the things she should be and is extremely forgetful some one please give me some imput if they think they can help with getting these things fixed

 

i am desparate and really dont know much about the disorder seeing as the doctors throw this problem on me and refuse to help break down exactly the type and sevarity of my daughters condion 

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