Zarontin

[Married]

My daughter was put on zarontin about a week and a half ago. She is up to 2 ml and it is helping control her seizures. She is 6 and will be seven in September. I have noticed that it makes her a little hyper and moody, it is not that bad it is just she does not seem like the same little girl. I was wanting to know if any of you had, had this experience with the medicine before if the moods get better once her body is regulated on it or if it doesn't go away. Other than her moods and more energy the medicine has been a God send, she has not had her seizures like she was, and seems more sharper and retaining information like and school and everything else.

[Nakamova]

Hi Married, welcome to CWE!

I'm not on Zarontin, but in general with epilepsy meds it can take a while to get a sense of what the side effects are, and whether or not they're going to hang around. Everyone's affected differently. In your daughter's case, it's probably a bit to soon to tell In time, the effects on her mood may even out a bit, or they might not. (When I was on Zonegran things got worse over time; on Lamictal they got better over time). The best thing to do is to keep on paying close attention. If things get worse, or become problematic in any way then get in touch with the docs.

Best,
Nakamova

[Dutch mom]

My son was on Zarontin 7 years ago. Zarontin is the same med as Ethymal, borh are ethosuximide which is mainly used for absence seizures and can be very effective. One of the known side effects are hallucinations: seeing things, hearing things, smelling things that aren't real.

[tase37]

Hi!
Just wanted to say hello and I hope that your daughters moods will slowly become normal again in time!!Good luck!

[SevenC]

My 8 year old son is on Zarontin. He was having partials and absence seizures that started in October of last year.

At first, the side effects were horrible!!!! It was like I had someone else's kid! I cried for weeks, I wanted MY baby back. (The mood swings)

But after about 6 weeks, he adjusted, and now he is right back to normal. It's been over 6 months with the medication and he's doing fine, no more seizures, all side effects gone.

Hang in there, I hope it works out for your family!