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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 scorpiolaura on Thu, 2009-03-05 - 11:39

Hi! My 9 year old son is just starting Depakote.  he was diagnosed with absence seizures almost 2 years ago (he's had them since he was a toddler though) and has tried lamictal and then ethosuximide.   i felt the etho was working great for his absence seizures- and he did lose some weight- but he had his first convulsion seizure in his sleep 2 days ago.  the doctor now wants to move him to depakote but not sure how effective it will be for his absence.  this morning he is complaining of headaches.... i'd like to talk to other parents like you guys and hear more how your kids are managing this- both medically and personally (school, etc).  Thanks!

Lcm

Hi! My 9 year old son is just starting Depakote.  he was diagnosed with absence seizures almost 2 years ago (he's had them since he was a toddler though) and has tried lamictal and then ethosuximide.   i felt the etho was working great for his absence seizures- and he did lose some weight- but he had his first convulsion seizure in his sleep 2 days ago.  the doctor now wants to move him to depakote but not sure how effective it will be for his absence.  this morning he is complaining of headaches.... i'd like to talk to other parents like you guys and hear more how your kids are managing this- both medically and personally (school, etc).  Thanks!

Lcm

Re: Ethosuximide treatment

Submitted by DawnMaries on Thu, 2009-03-05 - 12:42

Hi Lcm!  My son is doing well medically but personally we have seen a change in him.  He seems to not care about school work and I am in constant contact with his teacher about his academics.  Academically she said he is right on track but he is easily distracted and most often will not do class work while in school. This does not happen every day but it does happen a couple times a week.  I have punished him by taking away tv and video games and he does not seem to care.  It breaks my heart to see this change in him and like his teacher said it is unfair  to punish him for something that may be a direct cause from the medcine.  When I spoke to his Neuro regarding these issues she said that she is aware that the med can cause behavioral side effects but she has not really ever had a situation that it did.  I am convinced it is from the meds because prior to taking the meds he did not have these problems in school.  You mentioned that your son had his first convulsion sz, is this something that can occur with children with absence sz?  Have you been told that your child will outgrow epilepsy?  How is your son responding to Depakote?

Dawn

Hi Lcm!  My son is doing well medically but personally we have seen a change in him.  He seems to not care about school work and I am in constant contact with his teacher about his academics.  Academically she said he is right on track but he is easily distracted and most often will not do class work while in school. This does not happen every day but it does happen a couple times a week.  I have punished him by taking away tv and video games and he does not seem to care.  It breaks my heart to see this change in him and like his teacher said it is unfair  to punish him for something that may be a direct cause from the medcine.  When I spoke to his Neuro regarding these issues she said that she is aware that the med can cause behavioral side effects but she has not really ever had a situation that it did.  I am convinced it is from the meds because prior to taking the meds he did not have these problems in school.  You mentioned that your son had his first convulsion sz, is this something that can occur with children with absence sz?  Have you been told that your child will outgrow epilepsy?  How is your son responding to Depakote?

Dawn

Re: Ethosuximide treatment

Submitted by JMommy on Sat, 2009-04-18 - 12:49

I am so glad I found this site.  My 8 year old son was diagnosed with CAE on 4/8, and began Ethosuximide as I see most of your kids have.  My son decided to do the capsules (he stated that since he can swallow peas whole, after all ;-).  We are into week 2 at 2/250 mg capsules and will work up to 1000 mg in total. Evidence of his seizures had literally begun 3 days prior to his EEG, and although short in duration, it was evident that something strange was going on.  We are unsure how long these have been going on as he began to adjust to his "lost moments" (he called it daydreaming) and was able to maintain a perfect GPA with only a notation that he needs to pay better attention.  So here I am in week 2 and I need to keep reminding myself that the Ethosuxide is ultimately for his benefit - watching his appetite change before my eyes, including sudden dislike of foods that were once his favorites, the loose bowels, the nausea which we were able to stop for the most part by having him take his meds with milk and food.  He has some sleep disturbances but that has pretty much been his MO for most of his life and has always awoken at least 1x per night.   His doctor told us that he will have no restrictions (he plays a lot of sports and is very active) and aims to control 80% of the seizures.  I've also noted he is more fearful of stuff such as disease, for instance; he's always been a pretty deep kid, but stuff like mad cow disease that he just recently saw something on comes up now about once an hour (do you think these carrots are contaminated?  the fruit snacks? etc).  It is just really painful to know your kid is on a mind altering drug see some of the no so great results.  I do want to end my rant on a high note though, and that is if we continue on our best case scenario, this will be a minor blip in his history and all in all, not a big deal.  I am just a mom who is trying to maintain 100% demeanor while battling a not so welcome new neurosis.  As for some of the other posts, he is not having nightmares at this time, though I've seen that they termed  "vivid dreams" as a potential side effect.

I am so glad I found this site.  My 8 year old son was diagnosed with CAE on 4/8, and began Ethosuximide as I see most of your kids have.  My son decided to do the capsules (he stated that since he can swallow peas whole, after all ;-).  We are into week 2 at 2/250 mg capsules and will work up to 1000 mg in total. Evidence of his seizures had literally begun 3 days prior to his EEG, and although short in duration, it was evident that something strange was going on.  We are unsure how long these have been going on as he began to adjust to his "lost moments" (he called it daydreaming) and was able to maintain a perfect GPA with only a notation that he needs to pay better attention.  So here I am in week 2 and I need to keep reminding myself that the Ethosuxide is ultimately for his benefit - watching his appetite change before my eyes, including sudden dislike of foods that were once his favorites, the loose bowels, the nausea which we were able to stop for the most part by having him take his meds with milk and food.  He has some sleep disturbances but that has pretty much been his MO for most of his life and has always awoken at least 1x per night.   His doctor told us that he will have no restrictions (he plays a lot of sports and is very active) and aims to control 80% of the seizures.  I've also noted he is more fearful of stuff such as disease, for instance; he's always been a pretty deep kid, but stuff like mad cow disease that he just recently saw something on comes up now about once an hour (do you think these carrots are contaminated?  the fruit snacks? etc).  It is just really painful to know your kid is on a mind altering drug see some of the no so great results.  I do want to end my rant on a high note though, and that is if we continue on our best case scenario, this will be a minor blip in his history and all in all, not a big deal.  I am just a mom who is trying to maintain 100% demeanor while battling a not so welcome new neurosis.  As for some of the other posts, he is not having nightmares at this time, though I've seen that they termed  "vivid dreams" as a potential side effect.

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