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Ethosuximide treatment

Tue, 01/06/2009 - 18:24

I am writing hoping to find out a bit more about the treatment of Ethosuximide.  My 7 year old Son was diagnosed 1 month ago with Childhood Absence Seizures.  His Neurologist started him on 250ml a day of Ethosuximide and after 1 week 250ml twice a day.  He is on day 15 and my husband and I have seen a huge decrease in the amount of seizures he has a day but we are still noticing that he is still having them. They seem to last for just a split second and I have noticed that they occur when he is tired.  Usually early in the morning or in the evening time.  I told his Dr that he was still having them (less frequent) after the first week on medication and she said that was to be expected.  So I guess my question is Ethosuximide suppose to stop seizures completely or just decrease the amount that you have a day.  Or is it still too soon on the medicine to see a difference?  Any answers on this subject will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

Comments

Re: Ethosuximide treatment

Submitted by marisa_833 on Wed, 2009-01-07 - 15:26

My 7 year old daughter has been on this medicine for two months now.  At first it completely stopped the seizures from what I could tell.  Now it seems like they are starting to come back.  Her doctors said that as long as the seizures are being cut down by like 80% they would be fine with that. 

Do you know how many he was having before?  Has he had any side effects from this med?

Marisa

My 7 year old daughter has been on this medicine for two months now.  At first it completely stopped the seizures from what I could tell.  Now it seems like they are starting to come back.  Her doctors said that as long as the seizures are being cut down by like 80% they would be fine with that. 

Do you know how many he was having before?  Has he had any side effects from this med?

Marisa

Re: Ethosuximide treatment

Submitted by DawnMaries on Wed, 2009-01-07 - 15:56

Hi Marisa, thank you for replying.  On average my Son was having 20 plus a day before starting treatment.  On some occasions it seemed like he had many more.  Both my husband and I have definitely noticed a dramatic decrease in the amount he has now.  Although I noticed that the past three mornings he has had at least one before going to school and last night I noticed him to have a couple.  They last just split seconds though.  His before treatment never lasted more than probably 10 seconds.  I am wondering if it is because he is getting back into a routine again with school and having to get up earlier than when he was on vacation over the Holiday's.  He so far has had no reaction to the medication but maybe being a little more tired at evening time. I called his Neurologist to give her an update and she seemed to be comfortable that he was still having them and told me to wait a little longer, that this was typical.  Were you told that these seizures would be outgrown? Our Dr said that he would outgrow them and that after 2 years on treatment we would slowly take them off the medication.  And also we are only scheduled to see her every 6 months for 2 years. 

Dawn

Hi Marisa, thank you for replying.  On average my Son was having 20 plus a day before starting treatment.  On some occasions it seemed like he had many more.  Both my husband and I have definitely noticed a dramatic decrease in the amount he has now.  Although I noticed that the past three mornings he has had at least one before going to school and last night I noticed him to have a couple.  They last just split seconds though.  His before treatment never lasted more than probably 10 seconds.  I am wondering if it is because he is getting back into a routine again with school and having to get up earlier than when he was on vacation over the Holiday's.  He so far has had no reaction to the medication but maybe being a little more tired at evening time. I called his Neurologist to give her an update and she seemed to be comfortable that he was still having them and told me to wait a little longer, that this was typical.  Were you told that these seizures would be outgrown? Our Dr said that he would outgrow them and that after 2 years on treatment we would slowly take them off the medication.  And also we are only scheduled to see her every 6 months for 2 years. 

Dawn

Re: Ethosuximide treatment

Submitted by marisa_833 on Wed, 2009-01-07 - 18:36

Hi Dawn,

Its nice to hear somebody else's story.  It sounds like they are both going through about the same thing.  She was having, by the doctors guess, about 30-40 a day.  And they were always under 10 seconds.  I work during the day so its really hard to tell truly how many she was having.  She started the Zarontin and they went away.  It seems like she is starting to have more again but they are definitely shorter or it seems like she starts to have one and then it stops.

When she is tired it really has an effect on her.  I have to make sure she gets enough sleep because then I notice more.

I was told by the doctors that most likely she would grow out of it by puberty.  They said once we got her seizure free, or mostly, they would keep her on the medicine for a couple years and then start taking her off of it and just see what happens.  They also said there was a 25% chance that this would develop into the tonic clonic seizures.  So I just keep hoping that it won't.

Marisa

Hi Dawn,

Its nice to hear somebody else's story.  It sounds like they are both going through about the same thing.  She was having, by the doctors guess, about 30-40 a day.  And they were always under 10 seconds.  I work during the day so its really hard to tell truly how many she was having.  She started the Zarontin and they went away.  It seems like she is starting to have more again but they are definitely shorter or it seems like she starts to have one and then it stops.

When she is tired it really has an effect on her.  I have to make sure she gets enough sleep because then I notice more.

I was told by the doctors that most likely she would grow out of it by puberty.  They said once we got her seizure free, or mostly, they would keep her on the medicine for a couple years and then start taking her off of it and just see what happens.  They also said there was a 25% chance that this would develop into the tonic clonic seizures.  So I just keep hoping that it won't.

Marisa

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