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My son is new to epilepsy and I'M VERY NERVOUS
Thu, 04/06/2006 - 14:43Topic: Medication Issues
Hi. My 4 1/2 year old son was just yesterday diagnosed with childhood absense epilepsy. I have noticed for a while that he at times seems in his own world, or that he doesn't always answer when he is spoken to. But I thought he was just being a typical boy. Then he had an incident at preschool when the teacher said he zoned out for about 1 minute. His faced looked blank, his eyes glazed over. Then he came out of it and he was fine. His ped thought it could be a seizure, and after an EEG, a neurologist diagnosed it as CAE. They would like to put him on zarontin, but I am very nervous doing so because he doesn't really seem that bad to me. Has anyone else struggled with this issue? Should I get a second opinion? Does anyone have a child with CAE who is not being medicated? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. I know absolutely nothing about this disorder.
Comments
Re: Re: My son is new to epilepsy and I'M VERY NERVOUS
Submitted by skootch1229 on Thu, 2006-04-06 - 15:06
Thanks very mush for the posting advice. I just posted in those other two places as well. I have been reading on this site, and am curious. I have heard of grand mal, but what is a petite mal seizure?
Re: Re: Re: My son is new to epilepsy and I'M VERY NERVOUS
Submitted by Missyat on Thu, 2006-04-06 - 15:38
Grand mal is now an old term meaning a big seizure hence tonic/clonic
Petite mal means small seizure = absence
now the classifications are
Generalized
and
Partial seizures
Generalized means using of the whole brain at once, like a tonic/clonic, jerk, drop and absences
Partial means just that just uses part of the brain like
Complex partials
Simple partials
Usually means a focus (start of a seizure) BUT sometimes the focus can not be found (too deep, or too close to majorily needed area) and can not be operated on.
I hope I have helped
Missy
Re: My son is new to epilepsy and I'M VERY NERVOUS
Submitted by Missyat on Thu, 2006-04-06 - 15:01
Hi there, My now 8.5 year old has had seizures for the last 5 years. He started with a tonic/clonic (grand mal) not hard to miss that one. At 3.5 years of age my son had his first EEG which confirmed Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy (MAE, Doose). His main type of seizure is a drop (atonic) but he also has jerks, and absences. My son has been on zarontin (ethosuximide) for over 3 years now and has tolerated it well. It does cause tummy aches so make sure if you start this med he has a cracker to eat just before giving it to him. As for seizures and medicating??? that is YOUR decision and yes it is a tough one. IMHO (In My Humble Opinion)(remember I am just a mom and not a doctor) I would medicate only because it is a seizure, his brain is taking a huge time out to seize... it is not learning it is busy doing other things... like zoning out. Another thing is maybe if you posted this exact post in the Parent group here or New to Epilepsy forum you may get more answers... Keep asking questions and one of us here has done it or about to do it too...