Hi may son just had radiation treatment at UCLA this past week as his AVM was deemed inoperable by medical staff around the country (incl. Spetzler/Martin). During the week he had his first Gran Mal seizure - scared the living daylights out of all of us. He was rushed to the ER and had CT but thankfully no hemorrhage. Medical staff don't believe it was as a result of treatment and he finished three more sessions (5 total).
The doctor prescribed Keppra for the seizures but the pharmacy gave us the generic version Levetiracetam. I have learned it does not control seizures as well. Any thoughts? Any thing we need to be aware of?
Our son is 17 and is a senior in high school, very upbeat personality but already struggling with focus as a he has a "slow processor" which has him on focalin for attention deficit. He's currently off that medication and grades are slipping big time. He's worried (and we are with him) about maintaining grades for college entry. We've experienced him slowing down and being very lethargic on the Levetiracetam but understand this should ease up as his body adjusts.
Can't specifically answer the generic/non-g, but I know one of the RX's my wife takes for seizures, her Dr specified NO generic.
My son also had seizures (no AVM, just seizures) from middle school into college. I will dig up a long post I did earlier about schools, especially college and how well they support kids with issues. My son went to Kansas University, which you'd think wasn't known for helping just one individual student. Allen walked into the Students with Disability office and came out with a Tutor for every class he was taking, a note taker to attend each class with him and help him study, a free pass to walk out of a test if he had a seizure, or was recovering from one (he had zone out seizures where he'd just get up and walk out of classes). Extra time to take tests, and someone to help him understand the test questions if he needed it.
Plus, they said if he needed to find work, they'd get him a job, maybe in the Disability office. He ended up using the note takers/tutors, but don't think he needed the free pass card as he had surgery to fix the seizures his Soph year.
He had fun and did well at KU, and got to see world class basketball! His camp out group always had prime student seats, usually behind the KU bench.
If you ask (and maybe push), your high school and college should jump in and help.
Hi Mark. I wish all the best to you and to your son right now with all that he is going through. I'm on Dilantin sporadically at the moment. I've never had a grand mal but I have had a number of absence seizures in which afterwards I'll just sllleeeeeeeeeep :-P Usually when I wake I'll be unsure of how much time has actually passed and it takes me a bit to get my bearings. I'm a college student and I'm completing my studies online through the University of Nevada-Reno. I've let all of my professors and my advisor know of my condition just in case I have to go into the hospital or something like that. Are all of his teachers aware of what's going on? If not, I'd highly suggest doing so that way they can make some adjustments to his condition. All of my treatment has been done at UCLA. They're some of the best. I wish you all of the best and I keep all of my fellow AVM-ers in my daily prayers.
HI, My 12 year old daughter was on Levetiracetam. I hadn't heard anything about it controlling seizures less than Keppra. Good to know though. The meds did change her personality a bit. We also gave her 50 mgs of vitamin B6 morning and night (each time we gave her the Levetiracetam.) It was supposed to help with the side effects - lethargic, a little bit of a dull in her personality.