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Need advice!
Sun, 12/11/2005 - 08:07Topic: Medication Issues
Hi, I am the mother of Josh, who last Feb. had his first seizure. He was 10 yrs. old at the time. He had 3 in the same month. Has been taking 1000mg depakote and has been seizure free. The only problem is he has gained close to 35 pds in 10 months. Friday I took him to his Ped.neuro. He wants to wean him off of Depokote and start him on Topamax. Any advice?
I dont want to mess anything up since things are going great, He had grand mal seizures. I dont ever want to go through that again. Thanks for any feedback!
Comments
Re: Need advice!
Submitted by txrhb1 on Mon, 2005-12-12 - 22:37
Hi Susan,
Gosh - isn't it hard to make decisions like this? My daughter and i both have epilepsy. Her's started when she was 9 years old, and it has always been a struggle to find the right balance between freedom from seizures and side effects of the meds. She has been on both Depakote and Topamax. Right now, she is 22 yrs old, and 5 months pregnant. She takes both Topamax and Trileptal. When she was on depakote, she had the same problem with weight gain. Although she continues to have generalized seizures (gran mal), I have to say that the Topamax and Trileptal have controlled her better than others so far.
I hope things go well for you and Josh.
((( hugs ))),
Barbie
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Re: Re: Need advice!
Submitted by bil on Wed, 2005-12-21 - 12:49
No one really knows why some patients gain weight on Depakote and some do not. Some physicians believe that the new Depakote ER maybe better tolerated. In the cases of weight gain I have heard of, there is sort of a carb craving. With an eye on your child's diet (avoiding junk food) and some help with a daily excersize routing (such as the 10,000 step walking program) you should be able to improve the prognosis without switching meds. One last thing to consider is that the weight gain may have occurred without the Depakote on bored. I remember looking down at the rolls on my stomach when i was 13 or so...hormonal fluxuations perhaps and motivation to pump some iron! I remeber getting Husky Jeans arg! For me it was just a growing change that I grew out of in my later teens.
Re: Need advice!
Submitted by guitarmomma on Mon, 2005-12-12 - 19:44
I hope the Topamax will be better for your son! 35 pounds for a 10 year old is so much! I have friends who just love topamax and it gives good control. It is so hard to change the medications when you have control. Topamax is a strong AED, though and hopefully will help. you can find more about the medications here on the site.