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Absence vs. mild atonic
Tue, 06/20/2006 - 20:10Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
Hey, I am very new to this in terms of the computer side of things so forgive my ignorance.
I am checking to see if anyone can share their knowledge or experience with absence and/or atonic seizures. My daughter who is only four years old has been having both along with tonic clonics since she was very young. I read today that there is a mild version of atonic seizures in which the head drops a bit. This caught my attention because her mother and I have assumed our daughter's head drops were part of absence seizures. Now I wonder if they may have been mild versions of her atonic seizures.
If this is the case, I wonder if we are medicating her correctly. Right now she is on Depakote and Lamictal. The doctor would like to ween her off the Lamictal at some point.
Thank you.
Re: Absence vs. mild atonic
Submitted by jolieweng on Tue, 2006-06-20 - 21:36
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that there are seizures called myoclonic seizures, which are also known as drop attacks. While most of the time these seizures make people fall all the way down, that is not always the case. Now keep in mind that what I am sharing with you is from my own experience and research, so I would encourage you to do the same. So...sometimes these seizures also appear as what's known as "head drops." They sometimes appear with little or even no break in consciousness, but usually have a little post ictal response. While my son does not have this type of seizure, my dear friend's little boy has an epileptic condition known as Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy, also known as MAE. These are the classic seizures of these children. These children also present with various other sieuzres, are hard to control and can also have other developmental delays. The onset is typically 3 yrs or so. My friend's son is typically developing, but has been but on the ketogenic diet, which helps ALOT! With the head drop seizures, I would strongly encourage you to research MAE and take appropriate actions with your neuro if necessary. It sounds like she's on meds already, and perhaps you already have diagnosis, but if this is new I would strongly encourage you to talk to your neuro. My own son has various seizures, and has just turned two. My friend's son is 4 and will be 5 in Jan. My ped neuro warned me to watch for these "head drop" seizures. While they are "mild" their effects can be not so good. My friend's little guy was always ahead of the game developmentally, and now he has a hard time remembering colors, so we've seen him digress. This may have nothing to do with your daughter, but with the "head drops" I think you should look into the possibility. Like I said, I am NO expert, and there could be hundreds of conditions that have head drops, but from my small small small world of exposure to epilepsy, this is what I know. Hope any of this rambling was helpful! Jolie