Community Forum Archive

The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.

My 10-year-old daughter with epilepsy

Fri, 03/09/2007 - 23:09
I am new here. My daughter had her first seizure at 6 yrs. She had a grand mal or tonic-clonic seizure. Seven months later she had another seizure and then was started on Clobazam. She was on Clobazam for about 6 months, but then the doctor changed her meds as she was having a lot of irritability and moodiness on it. She was started on Valproic acid and slowly weaned off of the Clobazam. She has been on Valproic since. She started having absence seizures a couple of years ago, but they were getting more frequent and lasting longer. So she now has started on Lamictal as well as the Valproic Acid. She is having a lot of problems at school over the last 4 years. This past year has been awful for her. She is failing grade 5. She has an IEP, but this year her teacher is new to the school. She doesn't know my daughter and has no patience for her at all. My daughter has been having absence seizures and the school is aware but I don't think they believe that is what is happening. I have tried talking to her teacher, but she never offers any info. as to how she is doing, other than she is doing the same, very non-compliant. My daughter cries almost every day, she hates school this year and doesn't want to go much of the time. The teacher gave me a letter last week saying she needs to do tests for about 5 subjects in the next week. She had this week and then next week they get report cards on WEd. If my daughter doesn't do these tests, she will get a failing grade. Right now she is getting incomplete. Why the teacher never told me when she was getting so far behind, offered to send work home for her or anything to try and help my daughter. I think she just leaves my daughter doing nothing and never bothers to see if she is having problems or seizures or anything. I think she just doesn't want to do anything to help her, figures she should be able to do what all the other kids are doing in her class. She doesn't have a support worker in the class with her, which she has for the past 4 years. They do have a support worker that comes in once in awhile to work with her, but not enough I think. I am hoping the addition of the Lamictal will stop her absence seizures or that she won't have as many so she can concentrate better thereby giving her more confidence in herself. We have decided to keep her in grade 5 for next year as this year has been a total write off for her. Sorry for all the complaining, I just needed to get this out. I never realized the anti-seizure meds and the seizures could be causing her learning problems and her knowing things one minute and then gone the next until reading a lot of the posts here. Her doctor always said he didn't think it was the meds or seizures. He figured she has ADHD too. It is so hard to know which is true and probably never will. Thanks for listening.

Comments

Re: Re: My 10-year-old daughter with epilepsy

Submitted by Brandi516 on Sun, 2007-03-25 - 09:32
I am so sorry you are going through this also. We are basically in the same situation,except my daughter is 6 and in the 1st grade. Last year before the seizures started she was able to keep up with the other kids no problem,had no trouble reading,etc.... The seizures started 2 weeks before school started this year. She is having a terrible time this year and is unable to keep up. She is getting special help in reading & math. We and her special help teacher have noticed that some days she can read & do other things just fine and other days she seems to have forgotten things & can't do them. Her behaviour at home is irratic and she is very irritable. I mentioned all of this to the neuro and they had her get a behavioural/psychological eval. Which came back fine. So now we are having her get some learning evals done so hopfully she can get the help she needs at school. We are trying to find out if she has a learing disability or it is a result of the epilepsy/seizure meds. ( Which we think it is) I don't see how they will be able to tell since she didn't have an eval before the seizures started.... The meds also seem to be causing her to gain weight. There is only 1 neuro in Maine so we are trying to get a referal to Boston for a 2nd more thurough opinion. I am sorry I do not have any advice for you. But I wanted to let you know that we are in a similar situation. Good luck & keep us updated. {{{HUGS}}}

Re: My 10-year-old daughter with epilepsy

Submitted by haney307 on Mon, 2007-03-26 - 11:05
Our daughter is 4 and started having like 1 second absense seizures nearly a year ago. She has several daily but so far does not seem to cause any big problems. We are worried that drugs like Lamictal could cause more problems and wonder if it's necessary at this time? We are new to this site and are hoping to help and be helped. thanks

Re: My 10-year-old daughter with epilepsy

Submitted by MindyRoy on Mon, 2007-03-26 - 11:09
I want to give you an update on Shelbie. Her absense seizures started getting worse, so her doctor put her on zarontin. That was about 3 weeks ago. I have not seen an absense seizure since. her school work is getting better, but she is still having problems. She is still forgetting things, like her math times tables, and spelling. It is still taking her a long time to do her school work and home work. She had a neruological testing and the results should be coming back. We have another appointment with the school 4/10. This will be to talk about what is going on, and what is going to happen next year. I feel she will need some type of help during the summer, so I am hoping they be able to help us with that. I also feel so helpless. She has come to me stating that all the girls in her class hate her. They will not talk to her at lunch. I am not sure what to do about this. I hope to talk to the school about this also. Take care, and keep us posted. mindy

Sign Up for Emails

Stay up to date with the latest epilepsy news, stories from the community, and more.