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Tonic Clonic seizures for 5 weeks straight

Tue, 04/15/2014 - 23:02
On February 2014, my daughter (15 yrs) had her first Tonic Clonic Seizure. At the ER, the doctor said everyone is allowed one seizure in their life. Two weeks later she had another TC on the couch while falling asleep. We called an ambulance and was rushed to the ER. The doctors did nothing...Exactly a week later she had a TC in school. She was then hospitalized for three days hooked up to an EEG. That same day, she had a TC seizure. The next day the Neuro came in and said she has right frontal lobe partial seizures. They gave her 500mg Keppra 2x a day. Exactly a week later she has another TC seizure. They upped her Keppra dose to 500mg in the morning and 750mg at night. Exactly a week later she has two TC seizures 6 hrs apart. They upped her Keppra to 750mg both morning and night. Exactly a week later, she has 2 more TC seizure. They up her Keppra again to 750mg mornings, 1125mg at night. EXACTLY a week later she has 2 more TC seizures...you guessed right...up her dosage to 1125mg morning and night. I am writing to you all because EXACTLY a week later, today, she had a really bad TC that lasted over 4 minutes. Obviously the medication is not working and I will be calling her Epileptologist tomorrow. We are lost on what to do. My daughter has lost faith in the medication and feels that there is no cure. Can anyone please tell us what other options we have. Is this normal? A seizure Exactly one week later for five weeks straight? I cannot function whenever she has a seizure. I am seeing a counselor because I see her having seizures everytime I close my eyes. I am a US Soldier and I have seen much more horrible things in combat but nothing affects me more than my child going through this. My family does not leave the house anymore for fear of this crippling disease. We give her B complex vitamins, regular vitamins, Magnesium 250mg every other day, Omega 3 and we eat very healthy...What more do we need to do? Every time we ask the Epileptologist about stuff we read on the internet that may help, he just shrugs his shoulders and says that there is no scientific proof. Your advice is most greatly appreciated! Thank You!

Comments

Link above. Epilepsy 101 is

Submitted by mereloaded on Wed, 2014-04-16 - 11:28
Link above. Epilepsy 101 is there too. Statistics are just that statistics, it would depend of sampling, study etc. in any case, that is the work of trained professionals to come up with this and use the information as they see fit. I am not going to get into an argument about my typos, horrible memory or blatantly misquoting beloved studies because, I am just a mother of a child of epilepsy trying to help a fellow parent on the critical moments right after a diagnosis. My job is being a mom, not to keep up with medical literature, as I have other things to do like take care of my sick child. I always put in my posts "ask your neuro" for a reason. Whether is 30 percent less or more is not my argument. I am giving advice not a lecture, jeez.

Last thing. Trigger control

Submitted by mereloaded on Wed, 2014-04-16 - 11:28
Last thing. Trigger control is very important, more so than vitamins. I my son's case, sleep deprivation triggered his episodes. Come to found out, he was staying up all night playing video games and talking to friends, having only 3-4 hours to sleep. 3D games and movies, watching tv in the dark, sleep deprivation are big triggers. On the search browser of this site search for "common triggers" it will let you know. Did she react to strobe lights on the test? How about on the hyperventilation test? Some patients react positively to exercise, consult with the neuro to see if it would help her.

I am a mom also of a child

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2014-04-16 - 11:46
I am a mom also of a child with a lifelong medical condition (more than one if you count seizures) but I try to avoid giving advice without being careful to check facts as misinformation spreads better than measles in an unvaccinated internet. You come off as authoritative, you should consider putting disclaimers prominently. Even the webmd neurology summary you link mentioned 25% were not seizure free so it is better to link to original articles with the data instad of mislead others with incorrect numbers. Brodie & Kwan are not actually disagreeing with their earlier articles (they are authors on the actual source article vs the summary of an editorial).

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