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Decision to NOT medicate after 1 seizure/abnormal EEG
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 13:38Please help..My 12 year old son (will be 13 in a couple weeks) had a tonic clonic seizure on May 9th. It lasted less than 1 minute, he recovered very quickly. He is an honors student, no behavioral issues, normal neuro workup/normal MRI. His EEG was abnormal showing "Primary generalized" activity. The Dr. wants to start Keppra. I am so overwhelmed. The side effect of Keppra is "behavioral issues". He will be going through puberty in the next year or so and puberty is such a fragile time in one's life. I don't want to start this new med at the same time. He has only had the one seizure and by definition epilepsy is 2 seizures. I know his EEG is abnormal, but can people have abnormal EEG and NOT have seizures? Has anybody chosen to wait to medicate after 1st seizure with abnormal EEG? It is so hard because he is older that I see most kids when they present with their first seizure. And he has had no other seizures (absent/myclonic..) PLEASE HELP. I don't want to do the wrong thing. Oh and he wants to be a Navy Seal and medicating him will prevent him from doing this. If I don't medicate and he never has another seizure then he can join the military. I am struggeling with medicating and then asking myself "what if" he never would have had another seizure. Thanks so much in advance
There is a small percentage
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2014-06-10 - 19:29
There is a small percentage of people who have abnormal EEGs and don't have epilepsy. I don't know how much smaller that amount goes to if they also have had one seizure (the odds are stacked against you, ask the doctor the likelihood). I know this is difficult. I think every parent takes a long time to deal with this but it is harder as one can't make seizures work around one's coping schedule. I would not choose to wait with one seizure and an abnormal EEG.Keppra is a good drug for many people (they are not hanging around forums complaining) and it was suggested for my child's first drug (went with a different drug with few cognitive issues but my daughter has focal seizures). Ask about the other options, I know they all sound scary.