Very Scarry!

[improvas]

Hi, I am Debbie. My 19 yr old daughter has absences and myoclonic seizures. She had absences when she was between the ages of 18 mos and 3 years. We told the visiting neurologist at the health dept about it then and he looked her over and said she was fine. No tests or anything. She was fine after that until her teens. They started coming back but not often. Last year they started increasing to twitches. We went to our family doctor about them and he sent her to the neurologist. After the eeg and blood work we got confirmation of epilepsy. He was going to put her on meds but she ended up pregnant so he held off. The baby was born in April and in May she started taking meds and they have helped. This leads me to my problem.
She is suppose to take them two times a day. She is not consistant with that. She drives and it scares me. While pregnant she clipped a guard rail during an absence. This morning she dropped the baby! Fortunately, she was sitting and he did not fall far to the blanket on the carpeted floor. Her seizure was more intense this time, I witnessed it, due to inconsistant medication I'm sure!
I'm not sure she is taking this as serious as she should. I ask her almost daily if she has taken her meds and she tells me yes. I don't know if she is lying to me or just honestly thinks she did.
I am stopping on my way home today to pick up a pill reminder box. Hopefully it helps. She is 19, with a child, and living at home. How do I get through to her that it is so important to take her meds? Her life, the life of her baby, and the lives of others when she drives are at stake here! It is driving me crazy!

[Nakamova]

Hi Debbie, welcome to the site!

It's great that you are giving your daughter so much support. She is probably under a lot of stress, with the new baby and with the epilepsy.

Is it possible that she IS taking her meds, but the seizures are happening anyway? There are a lot of stresses associated with having a new baby, and those could affect how well her meds are working. She might need to have her meds adjusted, if that's the case.

I think that the pill reminder box is a great idea, and hopefully she will too. Is she open to discussing the meds/safety issues in detail, or is that hard thing to bring up? Is it something her doctor could help with, in terms of reinforcing your concerns?

Best,
Nakamova

[Meetz1064]

understand how frustrating this is. Not from your viewpoint, as I am the E patient, but I am a mom myself, so I do get it.

While the pillbox is a great idea, please get your daughter into the doctor to have some bloodwork done, too. Have her hormone levels checked, it's possible that they are fluctuating quite a bit after the pregnancy, and they CAN affect the seizure threshold.

The neurologist DOES have the ability in quite a few states to revoke the drivers' license of an E patient if they think it's necessary.

Feel free to come back here whenever you want for support...we'll be here. And check out all the different nooks and crannies here--the Library and Kitchen are full of information, and the Padded Room is great for venting when you really need it.

Good luck, and take care.

Meetz

[Rhea]

What Meetz said.... I know now that when I had my children, all my symptoms were worse. I didn't know it was epilepsy then.

[improvas]

Thank you for your support. I went with her to her last appointment and found that her neurologist really wasn't that much help in stressing safety. In fact, he isn't much into explaining things to her and making sure she understands. I would change doc's but he is pretty much the best we have here. Her next appointment is next month. We'll see how things go.
As far as talking to her, she is always on the defense. I try not to sound critical but she is tough to talk to a lot of the time. I just keep trying.

Thanks again.

[RobinN]

Inform yourself so you can expect the best healthcare possible. Use your doctor for tests, etc, but knowledge is most important.

If that was me at 19, I would have been overwhelmed. I can understand why she is hard to communicate with.
My daughter has also had a difficult time understanding the "healthy" route I have chosen. She wants an EASY button. Keep searching for the cause and in the long run, she will be thankful.