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How do I get my 6 yr old to take Lamictal without a fight
Mon, 05/07/2007 - 00:13Topic: Parents & Caregivers
My 6 year old has been on Lamictal for approx. 8 months which was when he was diagnosed with absence seizures. He initially started at 5 mg of Lamictal and has since worked up to 150 mg in the morning and 150 mg at night. At times the Lamictal seems to have been working great with only a few seizures which weren't as long and as intense as they had been before. In an effort to stop them completely his doctor increased his dosage, but we found it to be too much for him as he developed nausea, trouble concentrating and had slower mental processing as well as being very tired. We cut him back and placed him on the Keppra as well, hoping they would work together to correct the side effects as well as the actual seizures. To be honest, I am not sure if Keppra has been effective at all. We recently increased his dosage of Lamictal slightly to bring him up to 150 in the morning from 100 mg and slowly cut back on the Keppra. He seems to have improved somewhat but even after 8 months we are still looking for the right dosage/medication(s) that will stop them completely. Very frustrating to say the least. My question is, even after this long of taking medication morning and night, it is a constant struggle to get him to take it for us easily. The Keppra isn't a problem because it is coated and goes down easily. The Lamictal is more like aspirin and he gags and fights us every time. We have tried crushing it, breaking it into tinier pieces, drinking it with Coke hoping the "bubbles" would make it easier, but we continue to fight with him morning and night which usually ends up with my husband and I getting frustated and my son crying. I'm tired of fighting it when I know he has to have it but I just can't make him understand that. Does anyone have any suggestions for making this routine an easy one? He will have to take this for a long time and we must find a way to manage this.
Thank you.
Tina
tlee827@bellsouth.net
Comments
Re: Re: How do I get my 6 yr old to take Lamictal without a figh
Submitted by tlee827 on Mon, 2007-05-07 - 08:43
Thanks for the reply Matthew. I guess that is where my frustration is coming from. I don't know what it does to him. I do know that he has suffered at school because of Lamictal which is why we keep adjusting the dosage to get him seizure free while minimizing the side effects. His doctor refuses to put him on Depakote because of the horrible side effects of that drug and I have to say that my husband and I agree. He says he has a lot of faith in Lamictal, it's just getting the dosage exactly right and I just feel as if it is one big experiment being done on my poor child who has no control. I know it sucks to have to take medicine and because we don't know how it makes him feel it does make it that much harder. I just feel that after 8 months we should have progressed somewhat and I feel that it has really been one step forward, two steps back. It breaks my heart as a parent to have a child have to endure this, and I do feel horrible that he has to be on any medication at all, much less having to take more than one. That being said, knowing that he has to take med to maintain these seizures, it's a painful process to get him to take anything. He shakes, gags, sometimes throws up trying to swallow it. Then we run the risk of him not getting the dose and something happening as a result of missing it. I fear him ever having a grand mal so it is vital that he get all of his medicine every time. What drug works for you? How do I find out what he personally feels on this med because he always says he feels fine, yet I can tell that he is tired a lot of the time.
Re: How do I get my 6 yr old to take Lamictal without a fight
Submitted by Matthew on Mon, 2007-05-07 - 00:52
Try to understand that the medication may make him feel horrible. I have been on some medications that reduced my life to a fog with a tiny little pinhole to look out of, or made my entire body feel like somebody beat me up. Personally, I was not able to tolerate Lamictal, it made me feel horrible. Work with your doctor to get him on the right medicine, and certainly help him get rid of the seizures. It may take a long time to get on the right medicine. Try to get him on something that makes him feel normal. He cannot tell you very well what he is experiencing with the meds.