Teenagers and epilepsy

[Paula]

hello
my daughter was diagnosed this year with epilepsy.
she is 15 years old. being a teenager is hard enough but i find she has more mood swings than usual.
do any parents have advice?

[epileric]

All I can say is be patient. I know I drove my poor parents nuts in my teens. I was extremely moody & often hyper-sensitive so my feeling got hurt very easily.

I now sympathise with you & my parents.

[Nakamova]

Hi Paula --

Is your daughter on any meds? Keppra in particular is associated with moodiness and anger. In some cases taking B6 can help deal with the Keppra side effects.

Best,
Nakamova

[RobinN]

Hi Paula, My daughter was diagnosed at the age of 14 with a seizure disorder. When she was on her meds she was more than moody. Life spiraled out of control there for a while. I said enough. We have been controlling the seizures with nutritional changes, and her moods are much better. At a certain time of the month she tends to get a bit more moody, but at least we are able to discuss this.

Rebecca takes a handful of vitamin and minerals that support brain health, and we have also had her see a therapist for the past 3.5 yrs. This has helped her cope with the social and emotional side of her situation. I also have learned how blood sugar levels can cause mood disorders as well as trigger seizures.

Lots to consider, but being proactive certainly works for us.

[Paula]

Will look into B6.
Thank you so much

[Paula]

Thank you so much for your honesty.

[Bernard]

Hi Paula, welcome to the forum.

Whenever I see that someone was diagnosed (or started experiencing seizures) in adolescence, I like to point out that there are forms of epilepsy that are related to the hormone systems (see catamenial epilepsy). I'd highly recommend keeping a seizure journal/diary to record seizure events and track diet, sleep patterns and menstrual periods. It helps to identify patterns / triggers.

You can read more about Keppra and B6 here: Kepprage: How do you de-stress?

[Royal_Ash]

I'm on Keppra and notice that the higher the dosage the more irritable I am. I feel horrible about snapping at my mom because she's only trying to help, but sometimes it flys out before my brain can filter the nasty bits.

I will try the B6 and see what happens.

Good luck and try to be understanding.

[Meetz1064]

and Bernard pointed out, tracking things like diet can be very important. And diet can be one of the big triggers for some people--like me. Seriously consider tracking her diet, and possibly changing it. It may not be easy at first, but so very worth it in the long run!

[BuckeyeFan]

Both epilepsy itself and the medications used to treat it can cause strong mood swings. Also, the stress of living with epilepsy can cause outbursts, just like any other stress. WE have a 'padded room' here at CWE just for that. Try to understand that she does need to release some of this and help her guide it toward targets that are less personal. Hard exercise is a good one. I found this out when I was on Keppra + Dilantin. Even now with Lamictal + Dilantin, I have a temper I need to contain.

On the other hand, I raised three daughters through the teenage years. Now 22-30. I am not sure what would be considered normal because they all had extreme moments. Some of this may just be part of being a 15 year old. It can be a difficult time. My girls were all healthy (thank goodness) and they could fly off the handle or have emotions that made no sense to me.

Be patient and make an appropriate release available to her.

[crazychick10793]

i am only a teen, but what medication is she taking. i was bipolar and suicidal before the meds, once i was put on lamictal it all went away

[CallMeSam]

I agree, being a teen is hard enough without all these epilepsy medication side effects.
Because of normal teenaged emotional stress and side effects mood swings take me over out of nowhere too. One moment I'm happy on top of the world and the next I just feel like crying.

I think the best you can do is be patient and understanding. Just listen and give comfort when you can. Even if parents can't do anything, sometimes they can help calm down just by talking or even sitting with them.

[Blondie47]

Hello Paula,

My DD, 14 was diagnosed in 2008. She is having a tough time too.

It can be very hard at times to watch them go through the rough patches.

We use humor as much as possible and shopping therapy helps a bit in our world.

Hang in there

[Deslie]

My son is 13 years old and has just been diagnosed with epilepsy. He has tonic clonic seizures. His worst fear was having a seizure in front of his friends, that happened on Feb 24. The kids were devasted, we all know how scary seeing a seizure for the first time is, the kids and parents crying because they were so scared for him. His friends are great kids and none of them have treated him differently because of it or have acted scared of him. We have tried to give him knowledge about epilepsy, we talk about it, we wear "epilepsy awareness" bracelets, on epilepsy awareness day we all wore purple, out of town family sent pics of themselves wearing purple, friends at school all wore purple, his coaches and parents of his friends all wore purple, all to let him know we all support him. We don't want him to ever feel ashamed of his diagnosis or embarrassed in any way. We are very fortunate to have a great support system for him including teachers. It is so important that the teenagers feel accepted by their peers are we are very lucky he has such great friends and family to help him with this. So although we are new to the whole Epilepsy world, my advice is to give you teenager knowledge of the diagnosis, talk about it and help him or her to become an epilepsy expert, who knows it may help some of their friends who are diagnosed in the future or who have family members who are diagnosed.
I am open to any advise on how to help my son become an "expert"!

[400ex]

I was diagnosed as a teen, I ran to doctors and the doctors assured me I will live a normal life as long as I take my medication, they have been right (I have been having some issues that are a big question mark whether it is epilepsy related or not) but since I started taking my medication a daily basis I have been seizure free.

Just saying that once I was diagnosed I wasn't sure if I was able to do what anyone else in the world with out E was going to do. And yes we have some limitations, we can STILL be what ever the heck we want to be.

Diagnosed at 16, I am a 4 year school trying to get a degree in Criminal Justice Security Systems which deals with high level security on government computers.