football and seizures???

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Hi i have a 12 year old that had one seizure(epilepsy), and plays in sports football and basketball(coaches do know about this). His seizure was in Febuary, but he still has a spacing out spell which i guess is concider a seizure(i guess it could be absence seizure). I'm always wanting him to play sports but know not so sure especially football. We are looking to put him on medication before football what kind of medication would be good... i know different meds have reation to different people, but i don't want anything to change in my son like moody or different thoughts. Medicine scares me now in days you just don't know how it will effect a child. Plus is it okay for him to play..dr says yes..i'm just worried i guess...is there any other parents that child is playing sports with having this same issues...is child still doing okay without problems?? It could be im still new and tring to figure out epilepsy if anyone could give meds info or on sports with elilepsy would great. Thanks

Comments

Welcome I was about your sons

Submitted by just_joe on Sat, 2014-07-12 - 14:36

Welcome I was about your sons age when I started having seizures. They were absence seizures. Back then they were called petite mal seizures. So I do know what you are talking about. As for sports and epilepsy and medications. There are people with epilepsy in many different sports and yes even football. As a matter of fact one coach in a college has epilepsy. I do admire parents that want to protect their kids. I was also a kid that wanted to play sports. My parents didn't want me to because they thought I shouldn't because I MIGHT GET HURT. Yes your son might get hurt playing sports. But even if he didn't have epilepsy he could also get hurt. My older brother broke his collar bone in practice. My younger brother broke his collar bone when he ro;;ed out of bed. He hit a hemet with his collar bone. SO they can get hurt easily. I have cracked my ribs but that wasn't becasue of sprts. Your son just wants to be like all his friends and that is what I wanted. He is like everybody else. He can plan things out and become what he wants to be. If you hold him back from playing sports will you hold him back from being a congressman? Hey they too can get hurt in a car accident. I understand your concern and I do know what it is like being held back from doing what my friends were doing. Try typing in your search engin "famous people who have epilepsy" You might be surprised ti see the people he can associate with. As for him and medications. The sooner he is staretd on them the better since medications help control seizures and the longer he goes without medication the stronger the seizures might get. Medications are designed to treat types of seizures. But just because they are designed to treat that type of seizure does not mean it doesn't treat other types of seizures. As for side effects they do happen. But that said side effects generally go away after the first 2-3 weeks after starting the medication. It takes that period of time for the body to get used to the medication. He is at a stage in life where his body is changing rapidly. I know BEEN THERE DONE THAT. At the age of 13 I grew 8" and gained 55 lbs in about 8-12 months so my dosages needed adjusting about 4 times during that time period. They weren't adjusted again for about 5 years. Then again after 15 years. You may read posts about this or that medication not working or the side effects were bad. Those posts were written by people that had bad effects with those medications. Generally side effects happen to 5-8% of the people taking that medication. The other 92-95% the medication has been working fine for may never post a thing since it is working for them. I do hope this helps and your son gets his seizures controlled and he gets seizure free. Joe

Welcome I was about your sons age when I started having seizures. They were absence seizures. Back then they were called petite mal seizures. So I do know what you are talking about. As for sports and epilepsy and medications. There are people with epilepsy in many different sports and yes even football. As a matter of fact one coach in a college has epilepsy.  I do admire parents that want to protect their kids. I was also a kid that wanted to play sports. My parents didn't want me to because they thought I shouldn't because I MIGHT GET HURT. Yes your son might get hurt playing sports. But even if he didn't have epilepsy he could also get hurt. My older brother broke his collar bone in practice. My younger brother broke his collar bone when he ro;;ed out of bed. He hit a hemet with his collar bone. SO they can get hurt easily. I have cracked my ribs but that wasn't becasue of sprts. Your son just wants to be like all his friends and that is what I wanted. He is like everybody else. He can plan things out and become what he wants to be. If you hold him back from playing sports will you hold him back from being a congressman? Hey they too can get hurt in a car accident. I understand your concern and I do know what it is like being held back from doing what my friends were doing. Try typing in your search engin "famous people who have epilepsy" You might be surprised ti see the people he can associate with. As for him and medications. The sooner he is staretd on them the better since medications help control seizures and the longer he goes without medication the stronger the seizures might get. Medications are designed to treat types of seizures. But just because they are designed to treat that type of seizure does not mean it doesn't treat other types of seizures. As for side effects they do happen. But that said side effects generally go away after the first 2-3 weeks after starting the medication. It takes that period of time for the body to get used to the medication. He is at a stage in life where his body is changing rapidly. I know BEEN THERE DONE THAT. At the age of 13 I grew 8" and gained 55 lbs in about 8-12 months so my dosages needed adjusting about 4 times during that time period. They weren't adjusted again for about 5 years. Then again after 15 years. You may read posts about this or that medication not working or the side effects were bad. Those posts were written by people that had bad effects with those medications. Generally side effects happen to 5-8% of the people taking that medication. The other 92-95% the medication has been working fine for may never post a thing since it is working for them. I do hope this helps and your son gets his seizures controlled and he gets seizure free. Joe

Welcome I was about your sons age when I started having seizures. They were absence seizures. Back then they were called petite mal seizures. So I do know what you are talking about. As for sports and epilepsy and medications. There are people with epilepsy in many different sports and yes even football. As a matter of fact one coach in a college has epilepsy. I do admire parents that want to protect their kids. I was also a kid that wanted to play sports. My parents didn't want me to because they thought I shouldn't because I MIGHT GET HURT. Yes your son might get hurt playing sports. But even if he didn't have epilepsy he could also get hurt. My older brother broke his collar bone in practice. My younger brother broke his collar bone when he ro;;ed out of bed. He hit a hemet with his collar bone. SO they can get hurt easily. I have cracked my ribs but that wasn't becasue of sprts. Your son just wants to be like all his friends and that is what I wanted. He is like everybody else. He can plan things out and become what he wants to be. If you hold him back from playing sports will you hold him back from being a congressman? Hey they too can get hurt in a car accident. I understand your concern and I do know what it is like being held back from doing what my friends were doing. Try typing in your search engin "famous people who have epilepsy" You might be surprised ti see the people he can associate with. As for him and medications. The sooner he is staretd on them the better since medications help control seizures and the longer he goes without medication the stronger the seizures might get. Medications are designed to treat types of seizures. But just because they are designed to treat that type of seizure does not mean it doesn't treat other types of seizures. As for side effects they do happen. But that said side effects generally go away after the first 2-3 weeks after starting the medication. It takes that period of time for the body to get used to the medication. He is at a stage in life where his body is changing rapidly. I know BEEN THERE DONE THAT. At the age of 13 I grew 8" and gained 55 lbs in about 8-12 months so my dosages needed adjusting about 4 times during that time period. They weren't adjusted again for about 5 years. Then again after 15 years. You may read posts about this or that medication not working or the side effects were bad. Those posts were written by people that had bad effects with those medications. Generally side effects happen to 5-8% of the people taking that medication. The other 92-95% the medication has been working fine for may never post a thing since it is working for them. I do hope this helps and your son gets his seizures controlled and he gets seizure free. Joe

Hi, my son is not 13 and had

Submitted by Mom27 on Mon, 2018-07-16 - 21:19

Hi, my son is not 13 and had been asking me to play football for 2 years now. I will away refuse to allow him to play. Not because I'm being an over protective mother. I don't because I am thinking long term and of the fact that his brain is already had some damage due to the seizures he had suffered. However, the seizures have been pretty controlled and I want to keep it that way. I look at it this way. Yes, children at this age should be allowed to play sports and do the things that his or her friends are doing, but not when you know the long term effects that can take place from playing football. At this age they have no idea what is good for them and it is up to us as parents yes, to keep them safe when we must consider certain things (especially medical things). There are so many other activities children can be a part of that does not include banging up and shaking their brain (literally)! Like I said, it's not about keeping them from getting hurt, it's about making better choices and knowing that they have options and can still be active without causing more damage.I pray this post helps in some way.

I would like to elaborate on

Submitted by Mom27 on Mon, 2018-07-16 - 22:05

I would like to elaborate on what I said about my son having"damage" due to the seizures. I didn't mean he cannot function, (he is an honor student in school)) what I was trying to say is that I believe anyone who has had a seizure(s) had suffered some type of damage to the brain. No matter how many. Like how you say your son has had 1 but continues to have absence seizures. Yes! those are definitely seizures no matter how small and fast. This is what I meant about "damage". There is something in the brain that needs to be "fixed". Fix the damage don't add to it.