I don't think that figures can be given to answer any of your questions,
there are too many variants.

That's good news, it means that you won't despair by reading a worst case
scenario :-)

Mary

 Your earlier post (still on my groups messages) said the Dr. had
recommended one of two medications for your 14? year old, then left....  Did
he leave a Prescription and a procedure to start them since you won't see
him again until April?  Or did they just tell you the sleep deprived EEG
shows seizure waves but the MRI didn't?  then leave ?

   I can't see anything in the history I still have 'visible'  that says
where you were at,  except for below and an earlier post.   I think one of
the sites within the U.S. Ep. Foundation http://efa.org   site, you can
enter your Zip Code and get the nearest Ep. Association Office to you.
I'd prefer if you had a Family Doctor where all the Medical stuff could be
gathered for you, then We can give you opinions and experiences (most from
Adult point of view),  although there are people with Children around from
time to time too, or who've grown up with seizures.
    If you go to above or Julie's Website (Idaho -- she posted a reply to
you earlier and put her website at end of her post),  an Absence Seizure is
grouped within in Simple Partial Seizure, and can just include an Aura -- a
taste or aroma or 'feeling'  that's not there,  then Pass ...  Often unless
he knew those were Simple Partial seizures he might not think those were
strange to him or not *tell you if he's having them..   :-<
  (Some older sites might still group Temporal Lobe Seizures under its old
heading -- most newer ones now, cluster T.L. under C.P. now.)   A Complex
Partial Seizure  **Usually ends with the patient losing Consciousness or
Falling down when it Generalizes (spreads across the brain),  for those of
us who have that type.
   So far as I know we all (I think)  pass out before the seizures are
controlled with medications.   And most (80%?) of us might have a Simple
Partial Aura as a Warning that a Big one is coming, OR just the S.P. and
then it passes without getting worse.
   The Temporal Lobe seizures happen in one of the 2 temporal lobes of the
brain.  Those are behind the cheeks roughly above the mouth on left and
right side.   They are also the 'short term memory buffers of the brain'...
New learning or information goes there first, then is moved later to longer
term memory.  *If there were damage there, he'd risk not being able to do
schoolwork well or learn new things,  since stuff we hear or read has to go
there First before it moves to other parts of the brain for Long Term Memory
and storage.

   When mine were stronger (uncontrolled) I'd pass into 'the twilight zone'
(where I'd not know what I was doing or if I was in danger)  after the S.P.
seizure moved to the C.P. type seizure.   At that point I wouldn't remember
what happened until I came back or regained consciousness (on a floor or in
a hospital).
   An Absence can last from 1-2 seconds to longer, so he could have one for
e.g. 5 seconds-- and unless you knew what to watch for, you wouldn't see him
'drift away'  and return,  since he'd stay upright and continue writing his
homework or reading where he left off without any apparent outward sign to
you.
  Likely the only thing you might notice is if he dropped something,  if
his type were triggered by e.g. an Aroma or Sound that he was sensitive to.
(Mine was Lemon or Bleach -- taste (1st) or odour (2nd) -- and strong aromas
of those used to start me into a dizzy disoriented space where I'd lose
awareness of where I was or what I was doing.)

  *Many of us (not I)  could have a Normal EEG, since it has to measure the
waves when they happened, so if we didn't have any events as they measured
them, the EEG might be Clean even if we're 'not' .  You said his Sleep
Deprived one had EEG waves?  (another post) --> they Do that (keep them
awake on purpose) since that lowers our guard and makes a Seizure more
likely (if we were at risk)  than if we were fully rested.  IF those are the
only times he's having seizure events that you can see (i.e. when he's well
rested),  he certainly could reduce his Risk of having any Events if he made
sure he stayed well rested.    The *doctor could possibly tell you if his
are Mild enough for that to be the Only thing that he'd have to do.

   *Any seizure meds. they give, the Dr. will start on the Lower target
dose for his Age and Weight and move up to control.  He won't become a
'Zombie'...  or 'Possessed by pills'   -- like I sensed you might be worried
about...  *If they get control Soon and at a low dose (ask the Dr. what's a
low dose for his age and what they might try),  then it's conceivable that
your Son can move OFF  pills later, **with the Doctor,  when they have these
controlled for a while.

   I think? you said before he'd had an MRI? (unless I mixed that up with
someone else).   If he has and the Dr. found nothing-- an MRI measures
'glitches' inside down to Parts of a millimetre -- Tiny Tiny glitches.   If
there was nothing found there,  his episodes could have other causes --
allergies, puberty,  ??
 (There's an Issue of Scientific American in 199? or later, entirely on
'The Brain',  that has a picture of a 'green brain' on the cover -- so you
can find it at a Library, if you want.  The Green picture is part of the MRI
described in more detail inside the issue.  There's not a lot inside the
issue about Epilepsy, but they have diagrams of EEGs, MRIs and other tests
that have been developed over last 70 years.)

 *If there's any statistics gathered on percent of kids who outgrow
seizures, they might be either at the http://efa.org website or Julie's
Idaho website.

  I don't remember seeing your 'diagnosis', but think (for now)  you're
Scaring yourself  before we have a full diagnosis.    We know that's
Natural,  but it could be e.g. a reaction to something else that's happening
(an infection, allergy, vaccination or other things that could trigger a
reaction)?   Others here might show up during the week with other ideas (who
have kids being treated).
  I *think there was a site under a Microsoft?  health link for Parents of
Kids, but don't have the url.  You could try a Google search on something
like parents&epilepsy, children&seizures, or something that would pull up
messages that you can use.   If you try a search on absence seizures  (note
spelling vs. subject line), or temporal lobe seizures, you're libel to get
about 200 posts -- a bunch of them mine !! :-<    Skip those ones now
(mine), but I think the efa site and Julie's site will pull you up enough
information to start with, and you can post here to get clarification of "
what does This mean? "
    And we have had a few people here (over the years) whose kids outgrew
the types of seizures they were having.  Some things have just changed a
little.   The world will not end--  we're all here to help.       G./

Here's a Briefer !! reply than earlier one.  It's a cut and paste of a post
I did about 5 weeks ago that lists about 5 main useful sites you might not
have seen.    Under the efa.org one it has a Medications Glossary (if you
have anything prescribed already), and I think, a Search option where you
can enter e.g Complex Partial and then click Search or Go and it will bring
up what the Ep. Foundation of America has on that subject.
 (If you have trouble linking to any of those, use reply to sender and tell
me where you had trouble getting to a link. So far as I know these are still
all up to date. )   G.
****************************************

Here's an Earlier Post I did that lists about 5 Ep. sites that you might not
have seen in the History file.
**********
There are a number of sites around the group that get posted from time to
time.  Some of the symptoms (at bottom) that you might see, might be
displayed on one of the First Aid for Seizures Websites below -- likely to
first 'seizure' one.   If you look down the first aid chart, I think it
shows 3 or 4 main types of seizures down one column, then the types of
things that can be done.
  Under the Symptoms or Sensations columns are the types of  'aura' or
sensation that might be specific to a particular seizure type.   That is
usually used by a Doctor at first to identify possible location where the
seizure is Launching From.  Then further tests (EEG, MRI, CT)  might look at
more detailed internals.

  NOTE - within Julie's Idaho Main website, and on Howdy Dave's there are
links to the Ep. Foundation of America that has a Medications Glossary and
more detail on specific seizure types that you can search out at your own
pace. I also included the one entrance at bottom below.
  Also some of the minor seizures that don't result in loss of
consciousness, might be grouped under either 'absences' (if a person appears
to 'zone out' for short periods),  or simple partials (that might just
include an Aura then a return to normal.   *If someone has been having these
for a long time, these *might seem like the New Normal for them so they may
not be Aware that those are an Aura.  OR they might prefer to 'not see them'
for what they are.  //

 Each of the sites can be put on a Bookmark or Favourite so that you can
then refer back to see if there are updates without needing to remember the
www address each time. hth. G.R.
**********
 For anyone who hasn't seen these already -->
The General Site that Julie operates for Epilepsy Idaho group is at:
http://www.epilepsyidaho.org .

The 'First Aid chart' I frequently refer to can be located by entering and
wandering about site above, but can be reached direct at
http://www.epilepsyidaho.org/seizure.htm  .
 There's a Second topic added, that goes more into First
Aid in Water, on Aircraft, etc.  It's at
http://www.epilepsyidaho.org/seizure2.htm  .

 Also accessible from top site, but more detail on Learning about Epilepsy
can be found at http://www.epilepsyidaho/learn.htm   .  That one has quite a
few more links, information on kids newly diagnosed? (I think) and general
questions that others might ask, or those newly diagnosed.

  If there's no link there to a Medications Glossary, the Ep. Foundation of
America has one (of several)  within http://efa.org   .        G./

A few quick and dirty answers;

- The term daydreaming or losing time are good general descriptions of
absence seizures.
- Absence seizures usually have a fairly specific EEG pattern (I think
spikes and polyspike waves at 3-4 Hz) and can occur in the hundreds per day
lasting 1-30 seconds.
- They can lead to falling down, falling off bikes etc as you simply "lose
time".
- They can be outgrown by 18.
- There are variants of absence seizures such as atypical absence and they
can occur with other seizure types.

A good general site in the US is www.epilepsy.com, data specific to absence
is http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/seizure_absence.html

Carl ;-)

Hi!

I can certainly help with this as I had absence epilepsy in my childhood and
outgrowing it can be very quick. At all times, I outgrown it immediately
after taking medications.

Hi!

Welcome to our group. There are people from all over the world looking into
this newsgroup (I was raised and born in The Netherlands, so sorry for my
poor English) and some of them are really frequent posters -meaning they
have an awfully lot of experience regarding this topic and yes, we regularly
see new posters that just became parents and their baby / child was being
diagnosed with epilepsy.

Personally, I am almost 30 years old and when I was a baby I was diagnosed
with epilepsy as well. Though my parents can't recall correctly and 29 years

ago epilepsy was not that familiar as it is right now, I had grand-malls
type of epilepsy (but it may well be another type of epilepsy -I really
don't know). My parents thought it was their end of their world. Luckily, I
was diagnosed quickly and a quick treatment was being done. Medications
helped and at that time, I had to take: Phenobarbital  / Luminal  /Alepsal
(brand names differ per country so I try to list all of them) and
Diphantoine / Dilantin / Phenytoin. These worked quite well and they started
discontinuing the medications very quickly. After a couple of years (we
cannot recall how long it took to become seizure free /meds free) I was not
taking any meds and I was seizure free.

During early childhood, absence type of epilepsy came back (which appears to
be normal according to statistics) and they prescribed me Depakote /
Depakine / Depakene and again after a couple of years (we cannot recall how
long it took to become seizure free /meds free) I became seizure free / meds
free. I certainly was seizure free without meds at the age of 15/16 years
old. Now, at the age of 29, I am being diagnosed with primary generalized
epilepsy because of a combination of having been "binge drinking" since late
childhood during weekends only, having lack of sleep and having stress in
the beginning of this year before the tonic-clonic seizure occurred in mid
February. They presribed me 1000 mg of Depakote ER / Depakine Crono /
Depakene ER (brand names vary per country). Right now: with medications I am
seizure free and I am not terribly hit by the side effects which is great.

What I am trying to tell here with my small personal history is that it
somehow proves that people who have been diagnosed with epilepsy since their
earlies can have a good live and yes, epilepsy will have to be part of their
live and the live of their relatives. Epilepsy will sometimes affect what
they can and what they cannot do. My personal history shows that I "tended
to forget" I was diagnosed with epilpsy and wanted to be "normal" -having
similar weekend experiences as my friends during late childhood, etc. So I
learned from that experience that I need to pay attention to how I feel and
not push myself in any way. I also had to accept I am diagnosed with
epilepsy and that this is not going away anymore.

So, as I already indicated with my lengthy posting: I am not a parent having
a child that is just being diagnosed with epilepsy but I may still be able
to share some suggestions with you.In your situation and at this point, try
to get as much as information as you can so that you know what the
neurologist is talking about, ask as many questions as you can think of in
this support group or contact your local Epilepsy Foundation.

For example, here are a couple of URLs:
http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org
http://www.epilepsy.com/

It all depends on in what country/city/state you are located on of course,
but most countries do have a local Epilepsy Foundation.

You may also want to become a member of
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/epilepsy-l.html which is an E-mail based
/ Website based community. I posted a couple of questions and some Medical
Doctors working for huge epilepsy centers in the US responded to me directly
using my personal E-mail address regarding specifc questions I had in
regards to my personal diagnoses. It is not a rule of thumb that they
respond to every question but in my case, they responded which was great.

So, you already found this support group: that is a very good place to start
with as well.

Howdy!

The simplest answer that I can give is that

Absance seizures refers to what type of seizure you have.

Temporal lobe seizures refers to where the epileptic activity is located in
the brain.