Why diastat for kids only?

[chw4o]

So I'm warned to give my son the diastat rectal pen right away when he has his complex partial seizure- and it works within minutes to stop it. (had to do it about 10 times) His first one ever nothing was given and it lasted for a full hour. So I'm glad to give it. But no adult has orders to have another adult stick valium up their booty at the onset of a seizure. Why do kids get it and not adults? How do adults come out of their seizures? What would happen if he didn't get it?

[ajssoscia]

My 9 year old daughter was also prescribed diastat for any seizure lasting longer than 5 minutes or for a cluster of seizures. She also suffers from partial complex seizures. After having to administer the diastat 3 times at home, and seeing how traumatic it was for her, I asked her neurologist is there was an alternative rescue med. He prescribed klonopin wafers (disolving tablets) to use instead, as long as she was fourteenth enough to swallow. We'be been having a tough time with seizure control for a few months now. A cluster occurred during school a couple of weeks ago. The nurse gave her the klonapin. If I hadn't asked for something other than the diastat, my poor baby would have had to go through the humiliation of the nurse administering diastat. It was hard enough on her when I did it. Hope this is helpful to you. This is such a nightmare ):

[chw4o]

Not so much for a 3 year old that has only nocturnal seizures but I just don't understand why they stop them in kids but not adults. Thanks for that tip though.

[ajssoscia]

I don't know either. Quite frankly I was wondering what adults with epilepsy do if they live alone. This is so scary. I cant even believe it is really happenning. And I am so sick of people telling me "It could be worse!" I think this is pretty f*&%$ING bad. I would do anything to take this away from my baby....and i blame myself becaUse I KNOW this was caused from her traumatic birth. If I had only chose a scheduled repeat X-section this never would have happenned. My husband blames me...I hate myself.

[chw4o]

9 years is a long time to blame yourself. Or has she only recently been diagnosed with epilepsy? I relied on EFT (google it) to remove those harsh feelings from my daily thoughts. It didn't work for my husband (full of blame still) but it saved me. Not that you are looking to be helped - just offering all I know. It takes a long time to cope and time is funny with stuff like this. We're at a year and I'm quite desperate for a decrease in the number of seizures or a dog to detect them or something so I can get some sleep. =)

[epileric]

Actually Diastat is for kids because it is in a gel. Adults get valium. Both are ways of delivering diazepam to the system.
http://www.diastat.com/8-HCPs/

[ajssoscia]

She was diagnosed Sept 2010.

[chw4o]

Oh - so adults DO get something. I am so glad to have that answered. But they can't give it to themselves if they are having a seizure... so they have to have a paramedic or family member give it if the seizure is caught? Anyway...

[epileric]

If somebody is having a convulsive seizure nobody should try to put anything in their mouth let alone down their throat.

When anti-epileptic drugs are used they're usually taken on a daily basis to try & prevent seizures. It's not like an aspirin that you don't take until you have a headache.

I know sometimes neurologists will give anti-epileptic drugs like Ativan (which is related to valium) to take when someone feels an aura before a seizure.

[chw4o]

oh. so is a kid just more susceptible to some sort of harm or to the problem of a seizure not stopping? why do they need valium right away every time? Do adult's seizures ever not stop or last a very long time like I was warned my son's would if we didn't give the med?

[epileric]

That is an excellent question! It may have nothing to do with being a child or adult- I was on pills every morn & eve since I was 3.

I would definitely ask the neurologist why they would not prescribe scheduled doses as opposed to waiting for a seizure to treat it. As far as I know they Usually don't suggest administering any sort of immediate treatment unless the seizure has gone on for 5 minutes.

[chw4o]

No, he is ALSO on 2 meds twice daily. With seizures still once a month. I was only wondering about the emergency/breakthrough meds. =) But I will certainly ask our new neurologist if we have the time. Thanks for all the time you've taken to try to help me explain. There are always a lot of questions.