new to this board - several questions

My son, age 14, was Dx with generalized epilepsy - Dr. not sure if it's generalized epilepsy on awakening (not much info. on this) or juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. He had 6 tonic-clonic seizures between Jan and Mar '05. We also realized later that he had been having extremely brief absence seizures, for a few months prior to the T-C seizures. He was started on Trileptal, which didn't work (Dr. thought it was benign Rolandic), then a couple of other meds before being controlled on Depakote ER and Lamictal. Lamictal was stopped about 6-9 mths. ago due to rash. He has been seizure-free for 2 yrs. Dr. wants to wait 1 more year before weaning him off med. He is terrified of going off of it and I don't blame him. Also, I've read that if it's JME, the seizures usually always start up again if you stop med. and sometimes become hard to control again. Side-effects seem minimal on the med other than tiredness, although he always was a "tired" kid. He continues to do well in school, although sometimes I wonder if his memory is as sharp as it was prior to med. Dr. seems adamant about trying to get him off med. and give him a chance at "being healthy" rather than with "controlled epilepsy". Is this because of physical side effects or psychological effects of having epilepsy and society's fear of it? Any thoughts? Also, he sees a pediatric neurologist in Sacramento. Is an epileptologist different? If so, can anyone recommend one in northern CA? Thanks much! mom of T