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Stomach flu = Seizures in 2 year old son?
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 14:32My son, just had a second episode of tonic clonic seizures following recovery of a stomach virus. The first time this happened was June of 2015. My son got a stomach bug, no fever, little to no dehydration, 24 hours later long after he stopped throwing up he had his first seizure. We rushed him to the hospital via ambulance, and he had 2 more seizures in the ER. He had a CT, MRI, EEG, Bloodwork, Metobolic testing, Urinalysis, a second EEG after sleep deprivation - all negative! We went home on Keppra and after the second EEG, weened him off by September of 2016. Fast forward to January 2016, my sitter called me at work to tell me that he was complaining of stomach pain, I went and picked him up and within an hour he was throwing up every halh an hour from 11:00am till 3:30PM. I took him to the pediatrician that evening just as a precaution given the prior episode. No signs of sever dehydration. We went home. The following day he was fine, no throwing up, no diarrhea, just a slight fever 99 - 100.3. At 7:00 the following morning I was awakened to him having a seizure. After 4 seizures at home we were told by our neurologist to bring him into the ER where he had 3 more and was admitted. 7 seizures inside an 8 hour period, and again nothing out of the ordinary in any of his testing. Again we were sent home with him on Keppra. I am so distraught, this seems so abnomal to me, but in looking online I am seeing that this is hapening to other kids. So this is a thing?
Welcome
Submitted by just_joe on Mon, 2016-01-11 - 18:43
Welcome OK I read your post and I am sorry your son went thru his episodes. I am not a parent of a kid with epilepsy. I was the kid that had seizures and didn't know it. The doctor prescribed medications after I had a grand mal seizure, I had been written up for daydreaming in class for over a year. Those daydreams were petite mal and focal seizures. I had 20-25 different EEG's all came back normal. It took a week and testing of all kind to come up with my diagnosis. All of those tests had come back normal too, The last test was another EEG in which I fell asleep in when they saw abnormal output coming from an area in my brain. the neurologists looked closer at the test which today is the MRI. In a closer look they found scared brain tissue. So I am one of many people that do have a cause found for their epilepsy. For a diagnosis of epilepsy all it takes is 2 seizures. I also posted other types of seizures I had because most people do not think about other seizures a person can have if they have seizures that are not convulsive. As for keppra___ It is the best seizure medication I have ever been on. It has become the go to medication for many neurologists. It has fewer side effects. It not only reduced the number of seizures I was having but it also shortened the time in those seizures. I can have a seizure while standing and talking to you and you would know nothing about the seizure unless I told you I had it. I know that because I had one while discussing something with my PCP. Anybody at any age be they rich or poor and get epilepsy. The thing you need to do is start reading and learning more about epilepsy. This site has a lot of information. The forum lets you ask questions like your post gets responses. Start with the learning part . Find out what types of seizures the neurologist says he can have. Read about triggers. Oh and there are triggers hut they all aren't exactly the same. A medication that works for one person may not work for the next and the same with dosages. Medications for seizure control are not like aspirin like once it is taken it goes away after a few hours. Seizure meds take time to build up in a persons body. What is building is the therapeutic levels. If the medication is to be taken 2 times a day then those times need to be 12 hours apart. What you will read about and is listed on each prescription is side effects. My neurologist retired the end of last July. His office was one of the offices that worked with the FDA and did drug studies. At times I was chosen to be in some of the studies. Which means I do know how the side effects get written down. I also know that side effects do happen. Generally with most medications side effects do happen to 5-8% of the people taking it. Which means those posts about how bad it was and everything else are all posted by 5-8%. The other 92-95 people will not post because they have no problems. I would also suggest you get the my epilepsy Diary which is on this site. watch the video and give his neurologist permission to bring it up and the neurologist can look at the graphs and other information which might help him come up with medications, dosages and other procedures which might help get your son I hope this helps Joe I hope this helps