Benign Rolandic Epilespy...learning disabilities

[sunshine4]

Hi
I have been looking at different forums of epilepsy over the last 2 years and decided to reach out for some help. My son who at the time was 9 1/2 was diagnosed with BRE in March of 2012 after having a cluster of night seizures. I feel when he got out his tonsils the BRE started soon after(about a week) not sure if the drugs given at time of surgery could be linked to the start since no one in our family history going back has ever been linked to epilepsy. I have four children and our youngest son developed BRE...the path was made in his brain and we have been dealing with this as a family and learning as much as we can. We were med free for the few months until he had two seizures during the day, which became a safety issue. He has been on the generic form on keppra..Levetiracetam since August of 2012. In August of 2013 he had a grand mal seizure and we have been adjusting meds since then. He was on 3ml twice a day and we increased amount gradual to hold off seizures. Fast forward to today we are at 11ml twice a day and have had 20 seizures since August. He has always been a happy go lucky boy, very athletic, and smart. He was at 85% in math which has lowered to 55%. He could read anything you put in front of him and now has difficulties reading and comprehending, retrieving words and is easily distracted. One of my checks after a seizure is during the day have him tell me the months of the year(something he learned in preschool and could do easily) he can not remember them in order no matter how many times he tries. It usually takes 6 days before he can do it. His memory has clearly been effected as well as his easy going demeanor. He has a 504 plan in place as of Jan 2013 but I am concerned about him heading into Jr high and dealing with several teachers and being able to keep the pace of the day. He is extremely tired after a seizure and probably will miss early morning classes which I don't want to be held against him. I know epilepsy is not one of the classifications listed under the Special Education to get an IEP plan. I think he'll need extra support until the seizures are under control or until he outgrows them. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[valeriedl]

I wonder if what he's dealing with could be some sort of side effect from the keppra? I did a little research on the side effects of keppra, in adults and children, and many of them sound like things that your son is going through.

Even if the keppra is helping with his seizures it isn't worth keeping him on it because he can't deal with the side effects. I had this happen with many different meds that I had been on through the years and had to switch to others. You might want to mention this to his dr and see what his opinion is.

I'm 37 and I'm also taking keppra. I have many of the side effects that you get from it but they aren't nearly as bad as your son's are.

I read that one of the side effects of keppra is memory loss. After a seizure I'll have memory problems, I probably wouldn't be able to give you the names of the months either. They only last for about 10 or 15 minutes, not days. I do have problems at times with my memory in general also. I can forget things very easily. I have a horrible problem with word retrieval.

Aggressiveness, becoming angry easily, anxiety and changes in personality are also side effects. These sound like they are ones he's also dealing with. I also have these problems. A lot of people have them, it's pretty common with keppra.

Is there anyone at the school that you can discuss about possibly get him an IEP plan with? I'm not exactly sure who it would be. Maybe some one in the Guidance Department? Or they could tell you who you can talk to.

I read that the seizures usually stop by the age of 15 so hopefully that will happen with him.