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Help me -- my son has become someone else
Fri, 07/27/2007 - 01:21Topic: Parents & Caregivers
My almost 8yo son was diagnosed with complex partial seizures this past January. He was on trileptal at first, but had more seizures than ever. We changed medications to Keppra (and changed doctors as well!) in June, and the seizures have improved (I guess that's the way to put it...). However, he seems depressed; he has become hostile and aggressive; and he has some anger management issues. We are so new to this -- we didn't know if this is just an age "thing" or if it is the meds. His twin is experiencing some of this attitudinal stuff, but in a different way -- their personalities are opposites to begin with -- which is why we wondered if it was the age.
After reading lots of posts on this website, I am sitting here in tears, wondering what this disease is doing to my son's brain; his once-positive, sweet, helpful, compassionate nature; and to our family. How do I handle this? What do I tell the dr.? How do I discipline, while still giving allowances for the meds, but without making this a crutch or an excuse for horrible behavior?
Any advice would be extremely helpful.
Thanks.
Kim
Comments
Re: Help me -- my son has become someone else
Submitted by nickaroo242 on Sat, 2007-07-28 - 00:51
My son age 14 just started taking kepra he was just told he had epilepsy on july 9th of this year.my son who is one of the sweetest most caring boys in the world has mood swings, and can be down right mean and rude.it is tough but i have been told by a few people that this will pass in a month or so.I am holding out hope. my son starts high school in a few weeks and i worry about the social changes mixed with the meds. my son has not had any seizures since being on this medication so i know it is working for him which keeps me hanging on.god bless you and your family. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!!!
Re: Re: Help me -- my son has become someone else
Submitted by healinghope on Wed, 2007-08-08 - 12:26
Hi, I saw your post and hoping we could connect. My 14 year old son was diagnosed last year and will start high school in the fall. Right now, he seems to be up and down, it is hard, he gets very defensive a lot of times. He, too, has always been a sweet, loving kid. I'm hoping when school starts it will be better. He had at least 1 grand mal last year, possibly 2, as we did not see the beginning of the 1st. He recently had another. We are taking him for a sleep test--as we have heard not sleeping well can contribute to seizures--and he has always complained of not sleeping well. Then on to the neurologist again. It is a hard thing to know--the balance of meds, the balance of discipline. He was taking Keppra last year in school and seemed to do okay--he had a lot of difficulty at first--but he was also switching from being home schooled to public school. We took him to Sylvan and that seemed to help--I hope that is because he learned some skills and not because they were helping him to follow through. This year he is signed up for 3 advanced classes, so we will see how it goes--can only hope and pray for the best. I'm going to check into the B6 as well. There are still so many questions--I have checked into ADHD as well, seizures and ADHD can go together as well, I guess. Still searching for answers--maybe there are none, except hope and prayer.
Re: Help me -- my son has become someone else
Submitted by Christine1968 on Fri, 2007-07-27 - 16:51
Hi Kim, First, I'm going to recommend a book. (The other people who use this site are probably getting sick of me recommending this book, but it is a truly helpful book.) It is called "Seizures and Epilepsy in Childhood, A Guide". Second, as far as the discipline goes, it is a struggle in our household as well. We have an 11 year old son who was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 8 and an 8 year old son. They have totally different personalities as well and I sometimes feel I am making excuses for our older son. I was recently made aware of another book...I have not read it yet so I can't exactly recommend it but it sounds promising. I believe the title is "Parenting Children with Health Issues". It is available through loveandlogic.com. Like I said, I haven't read it yet, but I have read some of their other books and they have all been very good books with no nonsense information. I hope this helps. Good luck to you and your family and know that you are not alone. Christine