Tidiness and time keeping.

[Freda]

Something that's occurring of late is Carlys tidiness, sort of mild OCD. She has to have everything in place and orderly and her time keeping is ridiculous sometimes. She will plan a simple visit to her sisters house, literally five males away, and starts looking at the bus timetable and organising how we will get there the day before - instead of just going when we're ready. If she plans a time and someone runs a little late she starts stressing and has even cried over a ten minute delay in the past.
She was always a laid back girl and nothing fazed her, it's as if the Keppra, or perhaps it's just the epilepsy, is changing her to this new level.

Now I too feel pressured if I'm taking her somewhere because I don't want her stressing and bringing on a partial, so I start stressing too. I've told her time isn't important when it's shopping or family visits but she says it's important for her to know exactly how long she has to get there.
Is this a common behaviour with epilepsy/medication?

 

[masterjen]

Some of these features of Carly's behaviour might be unconscious efforts to regain control of her life. Epilepsy as well as many other chronic conditions can rob a person of their sense of independence, self-esteem and control over their day to day lives. Her wanting to plan ahead of time isn't anything to fear in my opinion; it might be helpful right now even if she is given the task of preplanning events as a means of helping her realize that she is just as capable of doing things as she has ever been.

Being upset when someone is late may again be a reflection of her feeling like circumstances/things/people have too much control over her, and that again she is lacking control.

 

[Nakamova]

I agree with Jen, it's most likely a reaction to the new challenges brought by the seizures and the diagnosis. If that's the case, perhaps she would benefit from therapy -- individual or group or family -- to help adjust.

It's also possible that Keppra may be exaggerating her reactions, so that even small stresses can bring on big anxiety and tears. Keep an eye out -- if her moods become worse and take a serious turn to the dark, she should switch from the Keppra to a med that is less likely to cause mood-related side effects.