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Ethosuximide treatment
Tue, 01/06/2009 - 18:24I 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 lizzyp on Fri, 2010-03-26 - 15:03
Re: Ethosuximide treatment
Submitted by delightedmom on Mon, 2012-05-14 - 13:42
I could not buy into this. I could not see my child go thru this even though they were short in duration. We went to see another pediatric neurologist. The moment we told him that its affecting her sleep he immediately split the dose to three times. 4ml in the morning, 2ml at 5pm and 2 ml at 8 pm. With this we started seeing an improvement in her sleep pattern. She would still wake up 3-4 times in the night but atleast get 8 hrs of sleep. The seizures were still there. It was as subtle as just an eye blink. But I could see it. We slowly started increasing the dose. With every increase her sleep pattern would be ruined but somehow we stuck through it. Finally in Aug 2010 we got her to 9ml in the morning- 4ml at 5pm and 4ml at 8 pm. From Nov 2010 we stopped seeing these episodes. At this point her sleep was not perfect but better. She would still wake up once but would get atleast 9 hrs of sleep.
So we went for a 24 hr EEG in Mar 2011. Even though we did not see seizures, there was seizure activity. And the report said the longest one was between 4- 5 sec and the shortest one was 1 sec. The doctor said we do not need to increase the dosage. So it was decided to keep her on the same dosage for 1 year. By now her sleep was perfect. The blood work reading was 118 but no side effects at all.
I could not buy into this. I could not see my child go thru this even though they were short in duration. We went to see another pediatric neurologist. The moment we told him that its affecting her sleep he immediately split the dose to three times. 4ml in the morning, 2ml at 5pm and 2 ml at 8 pm. With this we started seeing an improvement in her sleep pattern. She would still wake up 3-4 times in the night but atleast get 8 hrs of sleep. The seizures were still there. It was as subtle as just an eye blink. But I could see it. We slowly started increasing the dose. With every increase her sleep pattern would be ruined but somehow we stuck through it. Finally in Aug 2010 we got her to 9ml in the morning- 4ml at 5pm and 4ml at 8 pm. From Nov 2010 we stopped seeing these episodes. At this point her sleep was not perfect but better. She would still wake up once but would get atleast 9 hrs of sleep.
So we went for a 24 hr EEG in Mar 2011. Even though we did not see seizures, there was seizure activity. And the report said the longest one was between 4- 5 sec and the shortest one was 1 sec. The doctor said we do not need to increase the dosage. So it was decided to keep her on the same dosage for 1 year. By now her sleep was perfect. The blood work reading was 118 but no side effects at all.
Re: Ethosuximide treatment
Submitted by DawnMaries on Sat, 2009-04-18 - 22:16
Welcome JMommy!! Since my post my Son is continuing to have a few sz a day and we just had a 24 EEG done and the Dr has decided to switch to Depakote. Our Dr wants complete control of his sz. My husband and I were very happy at the 80-90% decrease that we noticed but apparently the amount that he continues to have is too many. My Son's appetite completely changed too. But that lasted maybe three months, he has his appetite back!!! I understand what you mean about seeing these changes in our kids. Fortunately CAE is usually outgrown. I have read that there are cases where it developes into a different sz. I brought this concern up to our Neuro and she assured me that there is no reason Raymond will not outgrow these. She mentioned that children who suffer from other serious medical conditions tend to have sz that progress into GM. So I am hopeful that we will be on med's for a couple of years and be sz free after that!! I wish you the best of luck with your Son....I have noticed a lot of the side effects from the Etjosuximide have gone away, it just takes time.
Dawn
Welcome JMommy!! Since my post my Son is continuing to have a few sz a day and we just had a 24 EEG done and the Dr has decided to switch to Depakote. Our Dr wants complete control of his sz. My husband and I were very happy at the 80-90% decrease that we noticed but apparently the amount that he continues to have is too many. My Son's appetite completely changed too. But that lasted maybe three months, he has his appetite back!!! I understand what you mean about seeing these changes in our kids. Fortunately CAE is usually outgrown. I have read that there are cases where it developes into a different sz. I brought this concern up to our Neuro and she assured me that there is no reason Raymond will not outgrow these. She mentioned that children who suffer from other serious medical conditions tend to have sz that progress into GM. So I am hopeful that we will be on med's for a couple of years and be sz free after that!! I wish you the best of luck with your Son....I have noticed a lot of the side effects from the Etjosuximide have gone away, it just takes time.
Dawn