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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 mom_of_jack on Fri, 2007-07-06 - 15:24
We've noticed the crabby, meaness in Jack, also. He has a 9 month old sister whom he adores (we made sure he was "in" on everything so no jealousy issues), but lately, his patience wears thin when she wants his attention in the car. He's too busy, or too tired, he says, to deal with her. He's also been obsessed lately with death and car accidents...when we explain to him that it's NOT okay to be in a car accident, that people get hurt and go to the hospital, I think that finally got through to him. He doesn't do the "I want to be dead" thing like I know some kids do, he just seems to draw the conclusion that we'll "all be dead" if we do certain things. Again, could be something totally unrelated. (He just got into Star Wars and although the game he plays for it is the "Lego" version which is great, no blood, guts, etc., he's seen some of the movies where there is death). He has his good and bad days. Yes, the hitting, the lack of impulse control, that has me worried. I teach older elementary kids, and I've seen what happens to the kids like that, with no impulse control, in and out of trouble, etc. and I worry about him. It's not nice that there are obviously some out there like him, but it's nice to know it's not just me, that I'm not alone. I love my little boy and I know he loves me and his family, but I just wonder about his comments and actions with others . . . no patience, no tolerance, and just not wanting to listen. We have a great relationship with his neurologist and can email him with just about anything, but didn't want to sound like a paranoid mom with something unrelated, ya know?

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

Submitted by LJ on Mon, 2007-07-30 - 08:01
My son is 6, has partial complex seizures and is on depatkote. I notice the same things in my son that you mentioned about your son. My son has told me "Mom, my brain doesn't always work right". I don't know if it is his E or side effects of the meds. He also has attention issues that are being addressed. We are experiencing the same issues.

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

Submitted by chiyoung27 on Sun, 2007-09-02 - 23:33
Hi, My son has complex partial seizures but is also on Depakote sprinkles and Neurontin. I was wondering how long has your son been on Depakote? Jacob has been on Depakote since last September but has been various combo is meds along with the Depakote. He stopped taking Phenobarbital two months ago, and that is when we really saw academic skills decline. He has problems with word finding, words coming out of his mouth jumbled up, reading, and writing. He gets so frustrated when he tried to express himself because he says the wrong words or just can't find the words that he's looking for. Since starting Depakote, we have seen him be aggressive pretty much on a constant basis. It used to be worse when he was also on Keppra. He is still aggressive at times but more than anything, he is moody, emotional, and screams a lot. I just learned that Depakote levels can fluxtuate, so when the levels are higher is when you see the bad bahavior. We just found out that he had Depakote toxicity, and his level was twice the level he was two months ago. We lowered his dose and already is seeing some improvement in his behavior and it's only been two days. Jacob was always a very good, quiet, sweet, well mannered child until he started taking all these meds. He also used to hit me, and other family members also. He doesn't do it anymore but does throw toys and yells when he gets upset. Jacob has problems focusing and following directions. Sometimes it seems that he doesn't hear us at all. He will respond by nodding his head but won't look at us or do what we ask. He also doesn't make eye contact too often. Every time I ask our Neurologists about his side effects, he tells me that he doesn't think it's medicine related. He says that it's most likely the seizures. I told him that I don't understand because this month he has had better seizure control than he has had earlier this year. He tried to say that maybe Jacob is having constant seizure activity that we aren't aware of. I really think it's the medicine. I wanted to write because our situations seemed similar and I've corresponded with some other moms but their kids are a lot younger than Jacob. I would like to hear from you so we can share some stories since our kids are the same age. Jacob will be 7 at the end of this month. Chi

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