I feel like im living a nightmare alone!

I don't know how much things have changed since the 1970s, as far as how much they drug up young kids. But I'm almost 36 yrs old. I was looking back at my old medical records. I remembered all of this except the Dexadrine. In 1973, I was put on Dexadrine, which is a stimulant. Why they'd put me on a stimulant I'll never know. I was put on Phenobarbitol and Mysoline. I believe it was the Dexadrine that was making me have crying spells. I was hyper and I didn't want to leave my parents sight. The Phenobarbital made me stutter so bad I could hardly say hello on the telephone and there were certain words I couldn't even say. I think a combination of all the drugs or probably or any the drugs caused me to have learning problems. I was tranferred to a different school put into learning disabled classes in 1st and 2nd grade for half a day. I was put in speech therapy for stuttering which my parents knew was from the medication but the schools wouldn't listen. I was put in these balance classes where you walk a short balance beam with an eraser on your head and things and like that. As soon as I was taken off those meds. my learning problems pretty much went away. What learning problems were left, was probably psychological. But everyone has problems with something. In the 3rd grade, I was transferred back to my old school. The stuttereing went away immediately. No speech therapy classes, nothing. After 2nd grade, no more special classes.Also, just a few years ago, I had an experience with Zoloft. My old neurologist supposedly put me on Zoloft as an anti-convulsant. I say supposedly because Zoloft can cause seizures in people that don't have epilepsy, and increase seizures in people that do have epilepsy. I didn't know that, when she perscribed it to me. My seizures kept getting worse. I kept having more and more and she kept increasing the dose. Most people take 25-50mg Zoloft. At one point she had me on 150mg Zoloft. She also had me on more than double the limit of Lamictal, which I didn't know at the time. The safe therapeutic level is 400-500mg (for adults). I was taking 1000mg. I was taking so much I couldn't walk straight or see straight unless I took it 5 times a day. If I took it too close together, I just had to lay on the bed and let the medication wear off. I felt like my head was spinning, I couldn't focus, I couldn't stand up. I was seeing double. The side effects were only because I was taking too much. Lamictal doesn't do that to me now, at all. I'm taking 400mg. She had me on other meds too.I can definitely relate.If I hadn't gotten on the internet and been my own doctor, while I was taking Zoloft, I may have ended up in the hospital. She ended up dropping me as a patient at that time. I weaned myself off of Zoloft, with no doctor. It was at that time that I finally started to make some progress, after my seizures getting worse and worse for about a year and a half. And it was my new neurologist that told me I was taking way to much Lamictal. I had no idea, because it was helping me. If I missed a dose, it made a difference. I'd almost always have a seizure.What you need to do is do your own research. Look up all these meds, including the dietary supplement. Make sure it's safe to take all of these meds together. Find out what the possible side effects are of each med is and what the possible side effects are of combining them with these other meds. Also find out what the maiximum dosages are of each med. I know this sounds like a lot of research, but it's what saved me when my neuro messed up my meds about three years ago. I hope this helps. Good luck.HeatherTulsa, OK

He only started having seizures two months ago and he has been on all those meds???? That does not sound right to me. What type or types of seizures is he having? Ativan should only be given in the even the seizures are not stopping. So, you are going off keppra, ok now we are down to dep & klon? The depakote is being lowered too? What type of dietary supplement? I think you should look into another opinion, run to another opinion. Is his doctor a pediatric neurologist? Try to find one that specializes in epilepsy, they are called epileptologists.

Amy- You are not alone, My now 19 month old baby girl started having seizures when she was 14 months old. And as it turns out she has been having focal siezures since birth. But it took having a Grand-mal seizure for anyone to listen to me, her mother. The neurologist we are seeing is a peds neurologist and several moms in my local group recommended him as my baby girl is a triplet. But I digress... He started her on Trileptal as it is a general medication for seizures and she has responded to it wonderfully. I am not saying it will be your cure all but just know that once you find what works for him it will become a different world for you. Get a second opinion from another neuro. One that specializes in children. Amanda