Help!!! My son has just been diagnosed!

Hi I understand what your feeling. My daughter had seizures when she was little and just started back up again at 12. She has grand mal seizures and absence seizures. She started to take lamictal and is on 75 mg 2x a day in addition to zarontin 1 1/2 tsp 2 x a day for the absence seizures. Soon the dr will wean her off this. Anyway, sleep deprivation is also a trigger for her. When we first started her on lamictal she did have one seizure and since her meds have increase she has been fine. You might want to consider switching his meds. Hang in there. I know its tough and you are never at ease. Everytime something bangs in my house I jump around 10 feet and yell my daughters name. I am a nervous wreck. If you need anything you can email me. And you are not alone.....neither is he! Kaydee07

Hi There, You think this is hard on you, but it is probably equally if not even harder on your son. I'm epileptic, 33 years old & other than the fact that my parents were married & both worked, in a lot of ways I've been where your son is. I was diagnosed at age 5 originally. By age 12 they thought everything was ok & I'd outgrown things & they took me off all my meds. I was seizure free for 4 years. Age 16 they put me back on meds after my first grand mal (caused by a virus as far as doctors know, but that's still a mystery). Thing is, at first my parents were a bit over protective & didn't want me to do much. I was like, why?? All I wanted to do was be the same person I was before the march break when I ended up in the hospital & they wanted to know my every single move! Finally, it was my dad that I talked to & said "SPACE!!" All I want is space! I can appreciate not having a driver's license, OK. Fine, but why can't I do this. So, my dad & my doctor talked & they all sort of said - yeah, certain things are ok. Then, my parents backed off & I followed more of the rules they wanted me to. The more you smother your son, the more rules he's gonna break & the worse it will get. Doctors started to say "you can't" more and more to me from age 16 - age 19 so I went to university away from home & got into all kinds of drinking & partying I shouldn't have. Still got my degree, and have since knocked that off, but it probably could've been avoided by having people lead me to believe that I could live alone, I could have some freedom & independence and be my own person. It's a bit overwhelming to constantly hear "You Can't" and "You'll Never" all the time as a kid. Find a way to let your son be more like his friends. You can't predict when seizures happen - you & he can educate his friends what to do if one does occur & then buy him a cell phone so people can contact you if he does have one. Odds are you can't watch him at home all day, but you're keeping him there, so the only rule left to break is when to go to bed! Get educated & give him some freedom back, it will probably go along way. I know myself, that's the main thing I always wanted when I was younger. Now it's just for my parents to understand my decisions along the way since I live common-law with my boyfriend. Good Luck