Odd Behaviors with Epilepsy?

[Starburst]

As I have mentioned in other threads, my 17-year-old son was just recently diagnosed with epilepsy. This came as a huge surprise, especially when the doctor said he may have had the condition since he was a child.

First of all, how would the doctor know if this was the case (that he may have had the condition since he was a child)? Is there any way to really know this? My son had no overt seizure activity that we were aware of until about a year ago. On the other hand, now that I look back, I wonder if there were signs there throughout his childhood that I just did not pick up on.

Please help me out here. Are there specific behaviors that children with epilepsy tend to display?

My son has always been a bit "quirky," but in what I thought was a mostly positive way. He has, for example, always been quite fixated on certain topics, like the weather (he talks about it constantly) and geography.

Some not-so-positive things include...
Despite being extremely intelligent, he has always struggled in school, something I could never figure out. He tends not to "get it" when you joke with him and takes things very literally. He has always stuttered since he learned to speak. And the most recent thing is that he was diagnosed with OCD, which is what finally led to him getting tested for epilepsy (the doctor said the two conditions are almost certainly linked together).

All throughout his life, I have largely dealt with my son's quirks, just thinking he was a unique person, but now I am really wondering if it was all connected to his seizures. I feel a tremendous sense of guilt because I certainly would have had him evaluated before this point if I knew he was actually ill. It could have saved us so much heartache when it came to school and now especially the OCD, which has been absolutely devastating.

Now that he is finally being treated, I am wondering, can my son ever become "normal"--or is all the possible damage that occurred too late to reverse? I apologize if this sounds insensitive. I am just really trying hard to understand how all this happened without my catching it in time. If anyone understands what I am talking about and has some insights, I would be extremely grateful.

 

[Cordero]

Hi,
I had meningitis when I was 8 months old. It scarred my brain but I didn't start having seizures until I was 5. The doctor at the time said that some traumatic event could've happened and triggered the start of the seizures.


Another thing is that the type of behaviors that you are describing your son has almost sounds like the type of behaviors that my son is having now except that his diagnosis is different. The doctors diagnosed my son as having High Functioning Autism, meaning that he can stay in the general education classes but he just has quirky behaviors. My son is 5. The types of things he struggles with are things like he is obsessed with vents and tornados right now. He is extremely afraid of flies. He says that they want to eat him. As we walk home from school he is convinced in his mind that the people behind us want to follow us. There is a Special Ed class next to his class and they kick the walls. He tells his teacher "They want to come in." Everything is very literal. You can't tell him things like, "It's raining cats and dogs." because he'll look for them. So I don't know maybe you could get your reevaluated if he's not showing any seizure like behaviors.

 

[elizzza811]

Seizures and OCD? I was beginning to think I was alone. I'm actually on disability because my OCD is so debilitating. Seizure-wise, I suffer generalized seizures (independent) - mostly complex partials, but also an occasional simple partial or atonic.

My neurologist thinks I likely had an underlying seizure disorder all along (just as with your son), though she isn't as gung-ho as I'd like her to be about the seizure/OCD connection. I can say this - the longer my seizures went untreated (and I'm talking decades here - I'm 47 and was just diagnosed with epilepsy last year), the worse my OCD became, and seizure medications at this late in the game have done nothing to help my OCD - but your son is still young and he might have a better response than I'm having. I was OCD-ing by age 12, was diagnosed with "classic" OCD by age 20, but my seizures weren't diagnosed until the age of 46.

Regardless of what happens, please don't beat yourself up over not recognizing a seizure disorder, as some of them are very hard to discern. I was running red lights and no little 'lightbulb' went off in my head that a seizure disorder might somehow be involved. And I can remember having atonics as a kid - my left leg would just collapse beneath me - but I'd lived with this 'quirk' long enough that even as an adult I tended to overlook it.

I thought you might find this thread helpful though...

http://www.epilepsy.com/node/963490

 

[Andrew]

Asperger syndrome

"While there are similarities with autism, people with Asperger syndrome have fewer problems with speaking and are often of average, or above average, intelligence. They do not usually have the accompanying learning disabilities associated with autism, but they may have specific learning difficulties. These may include dyslexia and dyspraxia or other conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epilepsy."

http://www.autism.org.uk/asperger

Also you may like to see my reply to the following thread: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f42/4-y-o-new-seizures-15050/

**DO NOT ALTER ANY MEDICATION WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR'S CONSENT**

Regards

Andrew