Doctors and Teen with Epilepsy - URGENT

[Paula]

Hello all!
First of all thank you for being so supportive.
My daughter was diagnosted with epilepsy at the age of 13.
She takes 1000mg of Keppra daily and has been seizure free for almost a year!
However today at school she suffered three seizures in one hour.
Worried and concerned I took her to our local hospital where the Pediatrician
informed me that my daughter needs to seek a Psychologist.
He based his 20 minutes conclusion due to the fact that she is a teenager and that her blood results: creatine kinase 76 UI/L (26-192)

Can anyone help me?
Thank you so much

[Rae1889]

How old is your daughter now?

sounds to me like the doctor is trying to suggest psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. which can be treated by seeing a psychologist/psychiatrist. Does your daughter have any known triggers? do you know what may have triggered these seizures?

[Paula]

Thank you for answering so fast.

My daughter is 15.

She has been seen by a pschologist 2 years ago, when she had her first symptons and all was fine.

I have seen her seizure, doctors have seen her seizure and in all honestly all I want is for my daughter to be well.

Any thoughts?

[Rae1889]

Has she had her EEG lately?

What are the details of her seizures. psychogenic non-epileptic seizures are typical of seizing with your eyes closed. I am assuming you are talking about her having grand mal (now called tonic clonic). Lots of people get told first that they are "faking it", "its all in your head" "its just stress" when really the doctors are too lazy to dig deeper to actually help the patient.

How often does she seize? and have you noticed what triggers the seizure? (lights flashing? low blood sugar? tired? foods?)

[Paula]

Once again thank you.

She did her last EEG 2 years ago and it was inconclusive. We are waitng for the results of this years EEG.

I was thinking about her eyes - they roll up into her "skull" and all I can see the white part of her eyes.

She hasn´t been sleeping well this week and I have noticed that when she is sleep deprived for more than three days she has a tendency to have a seizure - she is working on too many school projects.


You have helped me more than you will ever know and from the bottom of my heart I thank you!
God Bless you.

[Rae1889]

No problem hun!

Her having her eyes open is a real good indication that they do have a cause. and not psychological. I would PM RobinN and she could probably help you out a bit. Her daughter was diagnosesd at 14 (she is 18 now) and was told the same things. RobinN has since dug her feet in and put her super mom cap on and found ways to help her daughter to control seizures, without even using medications.

You can find Rebecca's story (Robin's Daughter) under the library section. Neurofeedback- Rebecca's story.

[Nakamova]

The doctor was suggesting that the seizures were psychological in original because your daughter's post-seizure creatine kinase levels were in the normal range as opposed to higher than normal. (This is because creatine kinase levels will often be elevated following a tonic-clonic seizure). HOWEVER, not everyone who has an epileptic tonic-clonic will experience the elevated ck levels, in fact the percentage is less than half. So really the ck levels don't rule out a thing.

[skillefer]

Hi!

My suggestion would be to get a different doc. Yours should be spending more then 20min. to talk to you. There's lots of things that could be triggering your daughter so seize. For example, not enough sleep, energy drinks, not eating right...strobe or flickering lights, hormone fluctuations (does she tend to seizure around her period??), as well as being stressed about her projects. Try keeping a diary. There should be a list in the library of things to keep track of. You might find that by keeping th ejournal, you find that specific, controlable things are triggering hers. Things that can be dealt with or avoided. Also, if she's recently been sick, or gained weight, that might cause her meds to no longer be in therapeutic range. Also, certain meds can have their absorption rate messed with by common foods like grapefruit. So check with your pharmacist. Hope this helped.