Zarontin, early update

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My 12-year-old started Zarontin on Friday morning for juvenile absence epilepsy, so he's on day 4 of beginning meds. The plan is 10 days of a once-daily dose, then begin twice-daily. I know it is VERY early in the process, and it takes time for the meds to build up in their system, never mind he's not even at full dose yet. The thing is, it might be tough to know for sure if it's working, because as it is we've only ever observed a few obvious absence seizures over the past few months. The last one that we know of for sure was when someone else observed one 11 days ago. We hadn't see once since. Of course, it doesn't mean he hasn't had others that no one saw. He said he doesn't think so, and honestly he usually is aware when he had one (although I'm not sure if that's only because of people's reactions). Tonight he might have had another, but it's hard to tell. I was quizzing him for a particularly tough definitions test. When I gave a definition for one word that he didn't remember, he was trying to think of the answer, and then it might have happened. It was a bit harder than usual to tell. The episode seemed even shorter than usual ones (which were maybe 5-7 seconds tops), and the “entry/exit” points were less distinct in that I couldn't tell exactly when it started and stopped. In fact, I wasn't even sure if he was just thinking or zoned out. He didn't look as out of it as usual. I asked hi about it, and he did think it was a “zone out.” When asked if he heard me (I'd been repeating the definition in a different way), he said yes but said he usually does hear people through a sort of fog (I didn’t know that). So I was bummed he might have had one because I personally hadn't seen him have one in so long even before he started the meds. Anyway, it seemed milder, but I don't know if milder is possible. Not sure what I"m looking for here. I KNOW it's too early. But I just had to share.

Comments

My daughter was diagnosed

Submitted by amgriffey on Tue, 2017-05-30 - 16:30

My daughter was diagnosed with absence seizures at 12, but was having them for a year prior and we didn't realize what was going on. We thought she was just being a typical pre-teen girl and ignoring us. Come to find out they were absence seizures. Sometimes they would last 5-10 seconds other times 30 seconds. It is very hard to tell sometimes. She said she could hear us sometimes, if it was a quick one and other times she wouldn't. She would seem as though she had no idea what was going on, what she was talking about or what we were saying to her. Her Dr put her on Zarontin and it took a while, but the thing is she still has them even on the full dose. She is 18 years old now and still has them. She also has grand mal seizures and is on another medication for those, which now seem to be under control. The absence seizures I think are a lot more difficult. I informed all her teachers and her school about them and asked that they keep an eye out and let her know when they think she had one so she could keep track. She is quit aware of them and can keep track for the most part. The short ones are the hardest to determine. The best thing to do is if you think it was one, it probably was. Write it down and keep track so when you go to the next appointment you can discuss it with the Dr. That is the best thing you can do. Get as much information about them as you can and talk with the Dr. I hope your son out grows them, unfortunately my daughter was diagnosed with the juvenile to and was just informed she probably won't out grow hers. She's so upset about it to, because as long as she's having the absence seizures she can't drive. Her Dr won't let her and I completely understand why. It just takes that few seconds to have one and it could completely change her or someone else's life. She's devastated by this news, because she was hoping to be able to get her license so she can drive and get a job and save up money so she can move out in a few months. Now she's at a loss as to what to do. I wish you and your son luck in this journey. I hope this has helped in some way. Feel free to reach out if you'd like. Support is always a good thing. Not only for the children, but it affects the family. It's a hard thing. God bless.

My daughter was diagnosed with absence seizures at 12, but was having them for a year prior and we didn't realize what was going on. We thought she was just being a typical pre-teen girl and ignoring us. Come to find out they were absence seizures. Sometimes they would last 5-10 seconds other times 30 seconds. It is very hard to tell sometimes. She said she could hear us sometimes, if it was a quick one and other times she wouldn't. She would seem as though she had no idea what was going on, what she was talking about or what we were saying to her. Her Dr put her on Zarontin and it took a while, but the thing is she still has them even on the full dose. She is 18 years old now and still has them. She also has grand mal seizures and is on another medication for those, which now seem to be under control. The absence seizures I think are a lot more difficult. I informed all her teachers and her school about them and asked that they keep an eye out and let her know when they think she had one so she could keep track. She is quit aware of them and can keep track for the most part. The short ones are the hardest to determine. The best thing to do is if you think it was one, it probably was. Write it down and keep track so when you go to the next appointment you can discuss it with the Dr. That is the best thing you can do. Get as much information about them as you can and talk with the Dr. I hope your son out grows them, unfortunately my daughter was diagnosed with the juvenile to and was just informed she probably won't out grow hers. She's so upset about it to, because as long as she's having the absence seizures she can't drive. Her Dr won't let her and I completely understand why. It just takes that few seconds to have one and it could completely change her or someone else's life. She's devastated by this news, because she was hoping to be able to get her license so she can drive and get a job and save up money so she can move out in a few months. Now she's at a loss as to what to do. I wish you and your son luck in this journey. I hope this has helped in some way.  Feel free to reach out if you'd like. Support is always a good thing. Not only for the children, but it affects the family. It's a hard thing. God bless. 

My daughter was diagnosed with absence seizures at 12, but was having them for a year prior and we didn't realize what was going on. We thought she was just being a typical pre-teen girl and ignoring us. Come to find out they were absence seizures. Sometimes they would last 5-10 seconds other times 30 seconds. It is very hard to tell sometimes. She said she could hear us sometimes, if it was a quick one and other times she wouldn't. She would seem as though she had no idea what was going on, what she was talking about or what we were saying to her. Her Dr put her on Zarontin and it took a while, but the thing is she still has them even on the full dose. She is 18 years old now and still has them. She also has grand mal seizures and is on another medication for those, which now seem to be under control. The absence seizures I think are a lot more difficult. I informed all her teachers and her school about them and asked that they keep an eye out and let her know when they think she had one so she could keep track. She is quit aware of them and can keep track for the most part. The short ones are the hardest to determine. The best thing to do is if you think it was one, it probably was. Write it down and keep track so when you go to the next appointment you can discuss it with the Dr. That is the best thing you can do. Get as much information about them as you can and talk with the Dr. I hope your son out grows them, unfortunately my daughter was diagnosed with the juvenile to and was just informed she probably won't out grow hers. She's so upset about it to, because as long as she's having the absence seizures she can't drive. Her Dr won't let her and I completely understand why. It just takes that few seconds to have one and it could completely change her or someone else's life. She's devastated by this news, because she was hoping to be able to get her license so she can drive and get a job and save up money so she can move out in a few months. Now she's at a loss as to what to do. I wish you and your son luck in this journey. I hope this has helped in some way. Feel free to reach out if you'd like. Support is always a good thing. Not only for the children, but it affects the family. It's a hard thing. God bless.

Zarontin, early update

Comments

My daughter was diagnosed

Submitted by amgriffey on Tue, 2017-05-30 - 16:30

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