Getting enough sleep?

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Hello my son (16) had his first grand mal seizure in July. He is currently switching from Tegratol to to Lamictal He had a 2nd seizure over Christmas (combination - we think of sleep deprivation - up until 2 (the seizure was in his sleep) and tapering off Tegritol before his blood level was at the right point). He was extremely tired when he had the 1st in July - had gone to 3 sport camps and that week was doing morning workout and evening football camp.

For him it seems sleep is key. Ideally he gets 9 hours of sleep but this isn't always possible. On weekends he wakes up at 7 takes his meds and goes back to sleep. Seems he needs to be asleep before midnight.

With a daughter at college I know typical college student sleep is up until 3 and sleeping until past noon and naps during the day. Just wondering if anyone has found a way to manage this?

It's only been 6 months since he was diagnosed but since sleep seems his biggest trigger, I'd love to here how you manage your sleep as a teenager.

Thanks so much

Comments

RE: Getting enough sleep?

Submitted by joayanez on Mon, 2005-01-17 - 21:18

hi rc,

same happeng to me when i was at college im 35 now but i study law so i had to stay up until very late, so what i did was wake up late and always sleep 8 hours no matter what. sleep for me as your son is sleep , when i dont sleep well i have a better chance to have a grand mal , but i do not wake up at 7 to take my meds. when i wake up i take them and when im going to sleep or at diner time i take the night one. so no matter at what time i got to bed i wake up 8 hours later.

i hope this haelp your son.

sorry about my english is my secon language so i may have some misspelling.

Regards

Joanna

hi rc,

same happeng to me when i was at college im 35 now but i study law so i had to stay up until very late, so what i did was wake up late and always sleep 8 hours no matter what. sleep for me as your son is sleep , when i dont sleep well i have a better chance to have a grand mal , but i do not wake up at 7 to take my meds. when i wake up i take them and when im going to sleep or at diner time i take the night one. so no matter at what time i got to bed i wake up 8 hours later.

i hope this haelp your son.

sorry about my english is my secon language so i may have some misspelling.

Regards

Joanna

My wife also needs 9 hours

Submitted by bernardcwe on Mon, 2007-11-19 - 11:29

My wife also needs 9 hours of sleep every night for optimal seizure control. Did you know that a study showed that up to 1/3 of epilepsy patients also have sleep apnea? Many people are not getting as much quality sleep as they think they are getting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Check out my chart of alternative epilepsy treatments.

Re: Getting enough sleep?

Submitted by hankjmatt on Mon, 2009-06-29 - 03:15

It's yough getting a teenager to understand that they need a regular sleep schedule to stay healthy. Turning off the TV, video games , computer and homework an hour before bedtime and reading in dim light helps the melatonin to kick in. A regular schedule is absolutely necessary. If these small changes can control the seizures, it's worth it. Teenagers will easily slip back to their old habits if everything is going okay, because they forget about the consequences.
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