Hello, I hope Bernard will allow me to post this new thread. I still don't have my email problem fixed with Comcast but I hope to get to that sometime this week.
As you may know, I've been asking for guidance here concerning my developmentally disabled adult son who suffered from 2 tonic clonics on March 10, 2014. I've kept a journal of his symptoms and episodes since then.
As far as I knew, he was having daily simple partials and so our local doc/neuro prescribed Keppra, in addition to increasing his dilantin, to control the partials.
UPDATE: Yesterday, we traveled to Chicago to see Dr. Michael Smith, an epileptologist who specializes in seizures in the developmentally delayed and who is the director of the Epilepsy Center at Rush University Medical Center.
We saw Dr. Smith once before two years ago when my son first suffered (two) tonic clonics.
Long story short: Dr. Smith said the partials don't look the same and that if they are seizures, they would look the same. He thinks my son is experiencing migraines, cluster migraines. My husband gets migraines and my daughter (who is a PhD Psychologist - talk about a contrast in kids) also had them when she was in high school. So, we are going to gradually diminish the Keppra my son is on until he's free of it and then if he has episodes, we will likely do a battery of tests and/or try Topamax in lieu of the Keppra. We will give him a coated baby aspirin a day and some magneseum oxide to try to ward off the migraines. My son had a great day in Chicago yesterday, it was so comforting. I pray this doctor is correct in his assessment.
I find it difficult to grasp that our local neuro prescribed Keppra without seeing my child and relying solely on my own observations - someone with no experience with Keppra or partials. Unbelievable.
On a sad note, we saw a patient yesterday, a down's syndrome patient, and he seemed only semi-conscious. From outward appearances, he seemed very drugged up. I felt so bad for him and his parents.
I want to thank the sweet people here who helped us these past few weeks, this forum is phenomenal. It was my only source of strength during a very difficult and scary time.
Thank you,
ccaronn
As you may know, I've been asking for guidance here concerning my developmentally disabled adult son who suffered from 2 tonic clonics on March 10, 2014. I've kept a journal of his symptoms and episodes since then.
As far as I knew, he was having daily simple partials and so our local doc/neuro prescribed Keppra, in addition to increasing his dilantin, to control the partials.
UPDATE: Yesterday, we traveled to Chicago to see Dr. Michael Smith, an epileptologist who specializes in seizures in the developmentally delayed and who is the director of the Epilepsy Center at Rush University Medical Center.
We saw Dr. Smith once before two years ago when my son first suffered (two) tonic clonics.
Long story short: Dr. Smith said the partials don't look the same and that if they are seizures, they would look the same. He thinks my son is experiencing migraines, cluster migraines. My husband gets migraines and my daughter (who is a PhD Psychologist - talk about a contrast in kids) also had them when she was in high school. So, we are going to gradually diminish the Keppra my son is on until he's free of it and then if he has episodes, we will likely do a battery of tests and/or try Topamax in lieu of the Keppra. We will give him a coated baby aspirin a day and some magneseum oxide to try to ward off the migraines. My son had a great day in Chicago yesterday, it was so comforting. I pray this doctor is correct in his assessment.
I find it difficult to grasp that our local neuro prescribed Keppra without seeing my child and relying solely on my own observations - someone with no experience with Keppra or partials. Unbelievable.
On a sad note, we saw a patient yesterday, a down's syndrome patient, and he seemed only semi-conscious. From outward appearances, he seemed very drugged up. I felt so bad for him and his parents.
I want to thank the sweet people here who helped us these past few weeks, this forum is phenomenal. It was my only source of strength during a very difficult and scary time.
Thank you,
ccaronn
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