9 Yr Old Seizure Disorder or ??? Need Advise

[totheskys]

Four months ago my son came home from school with strep throat, later that night just as he was dozing off he had a seizure. First one ever, so we called 911 and went to the ER. While there he had one more, so they game him Atavan. Everyone agreed and thought is was a febrile seizure, temp spiked to 103.

Fast forward to 4 months later. Went in his room to wake him 2 weeks ago, he stretched and went into a seizure. And within an hour, he had one more seizure. Called 911 again and to the hospital we went. They did blood work, eeg and a cat scan. All normal.

We had him on Clonazepam (.25mg) once a night. He started taking it one month before these latest seizures, because he has night terrors, and the Neuro thought this might help him sleep. We decided to take him off the Clonazepam one week before the seizures because he was having increased behavioral problems. We talked to the doc and he said to decrease the dosage and wean him off.

He was off two days when the seizures happened. So the neuo suggested to put him back on until we saw him three days later. Started him back on .25mg a night, for 3 nights. Then went to .125 mg for 5 nights, and skip a night for 5 nights.

My questions are:

Has anyone experienced seizures from withdrawing from Clonazepam?
Has anyone had experiences with Clonazepam lowering blood sugars?

I am leaning more towards my son having trouble regulating his blood sugars at night. Everytime he has seized he has had an empty stomach. We are changing his diet and keeping a log.

Any advise would be great! Thanks

 

[Fedup]

totheskys

Sorry to hear about your son and welcome to C.W.E. Just about everybody will experience some type of withdrawal from all drugs and yes if you are epileptic you most probably will experience seizures from withdrawal.

Clonazepam is one I have never taken and there are several reasons for a lower blood sugar, but as you may already know there are ways of treating this, it could be another under lying medical problem. So talking to your doctor about this would be a good idea. There are a lot of other simple things you could do, that may help.

 

[Nakamova]

hi totheskys, welcome to CWE!

You're doing the right thing -- paying close attention, looking for triggers or contributing factors.

Seizures can be a withdrawal symptom of Clonazepam, although it could also be that your son has a lowered seizure threshold to start with and was more vulnerable during the withdrawal period as a result. The night terrors may also have been indications of seizure activity. (An overnight sleep study with EEG might yield useful information about his sleep patterns and breathing.) Generally speaking, transition times (falling asleep, or just when waking up) are when the brain can be more vulnerable to seizures.

Clonazepam tends to increase blood sugar rather than lower it (about a half hour after dosing), but perhaps your son experiences a drop in blood sugar after the Clonazepam wears off?

 

[jyearta]

Hi and Welcome to CWE.

Hope you will this forum to be helpful and letting you know your are not alone.

I have been on clonazepam since 2004, I was giving this to help me sleep also. Then in 2005 my neur. added 1/2 tablet every four hours (0.5 mg.)
this has helped in getting my seizure under control.

I tried coming off SLOWLY and I went into seizures and a DEEP depression.

 

[donnajane]

HI Welcome to CWE. Sorry no idea re clonazepam my 20month old is on Tegretol. He has lots of events at night though so am also looking for an anwer. They are not sure if his are true seizures although the Nureo and Paed say they look like it. He has a lesion on his putamen, near the middle of his brain which was only picked up a few months ago. Before then he had had lots of "clear" EEG's but they said that was probably due to the location of his lesion.
I will be very interested to see what you find re low blood sugars at night.
Take Care
Donna