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Epilepsy often is diagnosed during childhood. Slightly
less than 50 percent of first seizures occur when the
patient is under 9 years of age, and another 30 percent
happen before the patient turns 20. While the condition
sometimes becomes less severe in adulthood, if and when
that will happen is difficult to predict.
Once epilepsy is diagnosed, the question becomes,
"What is the best way to manage seizures in a child?"
Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) can, in many cases, control
the severity and/or frequency of a child’s seizures,
but at the same time, can have unwanted side effects–namely,
drowsiness. (One of the newer AEDs, lamotrigine, has
been reported to control seizures in children but without
the sedative side effect.) There is also a risk of developmental
dysfunction associated with the early and chronic use
of AEDs in children. For those reasons, some parents
choose to try a strict, high-fat, low-carbohydrate food
plan, the Ketogenic Diet, which has helped reduce seizure
activity in some children. In the most severe, unrelenting
cases of epilepsy, the seizures do not respond to the
drugs or diet, and surgery becomes an option.
Meanwhile, parents and children alike face basic
life issues, such as striking a balance between taking
measures to ensure the child’s physical safety and allowing
him or her to have a normal life. Most of the time,
unless there is another condition or syndrome present,
children with epilepsy develop much the same as other
kids. They usually have normal intelligence and go to
school. It’s important for teachers and classmates to
become educated about epilepsy for the child’s physical,
social, educational, and emotional well being. Low self-esteem
and depression are common in people with epilepsy; any
behavioral issues should be explored to determine their
root cause, i.e., side effects of medication and teasing
by other children.
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Epilepsy
and Children
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