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2 year old with seizures on eeg but no physical symptoms
Fri, 07/31/2015 - 21:35Topic: Parents & Caregivers
Here's the situation in a nutshell. We were advised to bring my 2 year old son to a pediatric neuro for an eeg and 24 hour eeg for what we thought were absence seizures. The regular eeg came out normal, but the 24 hour one I was told was normal (unless she said abnormal and I misunderstood due to her accent) but had a lot of seizure activity. AND only one of the times we indicated what we thought was an absence seizure correlated with the seizures on the eeg. So in essence my son is having tons of these seizures, lasting 2-10 seconds at a time, but is not displaying any physical symptoms that would indicate so. I don't understand how that is possible.
The neuro wants him to get a sedated MRI and wants to start him on Depakote asap. I do not feel comfortable doing either right now. I have an appt. to discuss this with his pediatrician later this month to get his thoughts. But I want to know what you guys think. I know everyone thinks their child is super smart, but my son is very bright, he picks things up quickly... speaks very well. I'm wondering if because the brain majorly develops between birth and 5 years, it's firing like crazy... could all those "seizures" not really be seizures at all, but just be his normal brain activity?
The neuro even said she was surprised that he had so many when he was awake... could it have been because he was constantly engaged in various activities while awake? I don't know what to think right now. The neuro seemed very quick to jump to medication.... he's 2. I want to do what's best for my baby. I just don't want to impede his brain development if medication is not absolutely necessary.
What are your thoughts??
Thank you for your reply,
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2015-08-25 - 16:14
Thank you for your reply, however I feel I need to clarify some things. First, I never said I believed my son couldn't be epileptic because he is smart. I am a well educated individual... not an idiot. Second, I already stated we had been to a pediatric neurologist... unless you are referring to seeing another pediatric neuro for a second opinion, which we are going to do. And third, there are doctors out there who do jump to medication too quickly... look at what happened back a few years ago when so many children were diagnosed w/ ADD or ADHD and given heavy duty medication... Did some children need it? I'm sure, but there are more and more studies coming out now that state a lot of these children were either misdiagnosed or their "issues" could've been treated without medication. If you like I can provide you with links to these studies and other pertinent information. In regards to epilespy/seizures medications, I have read about people who's children or themselves have had seizure activity escalate and become worse when no medication was taken, but I have also read an equal amount of stories where the different medications drastically changed the individual's personality, mood/aggression, ability to focus, etc.. thereby affecting the ability to learn. So the argument can be made pro or con. Lastly, I do not know if you have experienced this with a child or if you yourself were the one with seizures... but as a parent, I want to make the right decision for my child and I will. By making an educated decision that encompasses knowledge I obtain from speaking to Doctors and those who have shared similar experiences - hence the reason for me posting to this forum.