The Ep. Foundation of America http://efa.org  plus Julie's Idaho website (at
end of any of her posts about a week ago if any are still up on your
reader),  describe Complex Partial seizure symptoms.   Older sites might
also list it under Temporal Lobe seizures -- since the Deja Vu he's having
is coming from the Right Temporal Lobe  (like mine).
 I haven't used either of those medications although others 'around here'
might have opinions on them.  With respect to Complex Partial types,  while
not controlled those can end in loss of consciousness if they generalized
(spread) to rest of the brain as the seizure progresses.
   If he's having these or starts to, you will be able to recognize them,
as he will lose consciousness for 5 -15 minutes at the end.    (See other
posts we were doing about Swimming and seizures.)   Whatever is prescribed
if you decide to use them it's important that he take the dose the rate the
Dr. says and not SKIP doses, by accident or on purpose.  Some of our pills
react negatively if stopped abruptly and skipping a dose will produce that
effect.   Also if the Dr. does periodic bloodwork to check for Med. levels
in his blood, he will assume he's taking the prescribed dose, so if only
Half the expected amount of med. shows in the Blood Test, the Dr. will
Double the pills he should take-- then he could end up at Toxic levels of
the pills.

   I take a different set of pills than he is recommended but the Dr. may
be avoiding mine as some can affect tooth and bone (Calcium) development in
someone still growing or maturing.   It took me about 2-3 years adjusting
doses of Tegretol and another anti-seizure med.  before I got to a clean
level that didn't have a seizure each 2-3 weeks, then each ~6 weeks, up to 3
months, then longer.  Now it's at almost 7 years.

   There is probably a Chapter (office) of the Ep. Foundation of America
somewhere near you, or they have a Medications glossary that will describe
those 2 pills and side effects (if you don't want to talk to a real person
if one were available at your local chapter who'd know about medications).
Even if you haven't filled the prescriptions you could go into your regular
pharmacy and ask if the have a www site OR can print information on the
particular pill types the Dr. is recommending.   On that you will see what
to avoid, and which side effects are possible.
 The Ep. Foundation of America is at http://efa.org

  The symptoms that are *possible (I had None of the possible ones for
Tegretol), will not include All the possible ones you listed at 2nd last
paragraph of your's at bottom here.  And may include none of them.

   You'd have to assess the risk of his having a seizure (see other posts
about swimming with seizures)  where it might affect his safety.   Most
states, he shouldn't Drive so long as he's not controlled,  so in 2? years
time if he's still not controlled he won't be able to drive while his peers
will...

   If he's not losing consciousness, his form of C.P. seizure must be less
strong than some of the rest of us.  Before I was controlled with pills, all
mine would end with loss of awareness of where I was or loss of
consciousness, and were potentially dangerous to me.   I also got a Medic
Alert bracelet at the suggestion of my Neuro.

   It's too bad that your area doesn't have enough Doctors and Neuros to
handle your Population size.    As someone who can't vote where you are,
perhaps that's something you should take up with your  Politicians  vs.
where they're currently spending all your Tax money.  :-<      My Dr. told
me that here (Canada)  we will run out of specialists and Neurologists
within about 5 years, as there weren't enough residency spots for them to
complete their training properly here. Once they've moved South or to Europe
to finish their training,  they have no real reason to return.  G./

With respect to your advice at end below, since I don't know what's causing
his seizures, he can't 'prescribe' like your neuro did there.   If they're
not photo-sensitive seizures causing the CP type, the CRT thing doesn't
apply.   Lifestyle, rest and exercise will help most things, and also
seizures.   But depending what's causing them, they likely won't cure them.
e.g. WHY did the EEG show Electrical waves that were abnormal?  and why does
your Neuro Friend think that was unimportant?   That was rhetorical, I don't
need an answer, as I was just thinking out loud.   G./

Hi!

That's a pretty tough call and my own inclination if it were me would be
to grin & bear it and not use drugs unless they were absolutely necessary.

There is an additional consideration though and I'll mention it in the
interest of giving you more of the full picture. There is a theory with
some backing by various scientists that having seizures leads to the
likelihood of having more seizures. i.e. It's like beating a path in the
brain.

They may cause other brain damage and I quote: "However, scientific data
are slowly accumulating to suggest that recurring seizures may
contribute to nerve cell injury in the brain, and this may be associated
with declines in cognitive function and quality of life."

I do feel that it's fair to say though that it is only theory at the
present time and will require more proof. The extent of any possible
damage is also open to question. You can read a bit about it at
http://www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1064856376.html

Bob

Hello,

Uncontrolled mild epilepsy can develop itself to uncontrolled epilepsy
causing the epilepsy and its seizures to effectively become worse I am
afraid. This is because of the learning capabilities of the human brain. I
read several books about this and they all discusses this a bit. Though I am
not a neurologist, I do believe this is true.

You may want to have a look at:

Partial Seizure Disorders
Help for Patients and Families
Author: Mitzi Waltz
ISBN: 0-596-50003-3 9000

On page 123 I quote:

If two or more unprovoked seizures have occurred, there is a higher risk
that there will be more seizures in the future. Repeated seizures may harm
the brain if they are left untreated, although the risk varies greatly
depending on the type and length of the seizures.

Let's assume your son does not take the prescribed medications. When he
wants to get his license at the age of 18 (that is law in the Netherlands)
there is a possibility that his instructor never sees he is suffering from
these mild seizures, so let's assume he does get his license. No one is
watching out for him and he starts driving. Now there are two possibilities:
1. he has a mild seizure while he is driving and gets involved in an
accident with material damage only.
2. he has a mild seizure while he is driving and gets involved in an
accident with severe personal damage to someone else and himself.

In cases like this, the insurance company of both car drivers involved wants
to find out how this could have happened and looks at your son's medical
file...

Also understand that your 14 year old son grows up and that he will go to
school which means out of your sight, that he will go out to have fun with
this friends, he will start drinking alcohol (alcohol = trigger one), will
go out for a party on Saterday night (lack of sleep = trigger 2),  etc.,
etc. He may also have to deal with stress sometime (stress = trigger 3).

My personal opinion is that you should not leave this mild complex partial
seizures uncontrolled -especially when the doctor recommends medication.
There are too many risks involved doing so.

I've been on two seizure meds and haven't had any of that stuff.  I think
there can be a real problem with denial on both the patient's part and on
the part of parents or significant others.  No one wants to have
epilepsy.  Parents don't want a child to have epilepsy.  What kind of
things might be included in denial:  failure to take meds regularly,
engaging in risky behavior, "forgetting" to pick up a prescription or go
to a doctor's appointment, thinking the symptoms aren't so bad, you can
manage just fine without medical management, etc.  Tons and tons of stuff
come under the denial heading.  In my experience, denial is a tough one,
and so far I haven't beaten it totally.

My history:  Started having simple seizure symptoms around 1967 (maybe
earlier), was untreated until 1989 by which time the simple seizures had
progressed into complex partial seizures.  In my experience, you can live
without medication if symptoms are mild and sleep is not disrupted and
there are no mental things (such as the fear component) affecting your
life, and a person is able to avoid triggers (if any).

For myself during all those years I was not treated, the bad parts beside
the actual seizures themselves were:  tiredness, which you can learn to
live with, but it might prevent a person from becoming all they can be or
doing all you want to do; the fear component, which you might not realize
for what it really is.  For myself, I had a real concern about the
pureness of food and water, which resulted in a 50 pound weight loss over
the years.  The other part of the fear component that ended up being
spooky was a mistrust of people, government, etc.  Then also part of the
whole symptoms thing for myself was really heightened startling to
unexpected sounds and noises.  Can a person live with this stuff?  Of
course you can if quality of life is not high priority.

Some problems I noticed due to MY undiagnosed seizures.  Additional
symptoms can creep up very slowly and you end up just living with it
because you think it is a normal part of aging or whatever.  You may not
be aware of seizures happening when you sleep, which can make the next day
hard to get through.  Untreated seizures could get worse over time (they
became significantly worse for me).

Advantages your son has:  He knows he has epilepsy and can avoid risky
situations or activities.  It can be faster for him to get treatment if he
needs it.  Other people might be able to help him if they know he has a
seizure disorder.

Some stuff I think parents and others should know about simple and complex
partial seizures (in my opinion):  The patient may not be aware they had a
seizure.  The patient may be closed-mouthed about inner feelings, thoughts
that are happening.  The patient may not always recognize what symptoms
are definitely related to the seizures and what's not related to them.
There can be a lot of stuff going on before, in-between, and after
seizures..  Even if a person has a simple complex or partial complex
seizure right in front of you, an observer, you may not know it.  Seizures
can affect a person physically such as changing the heart rate.  Most
people need to recover from seizures because they generally wear a person
out, and the amount of recovery time seems to vary.  There is a higher
percentage of depression in people with certain types of epilepsy than the
normal population.

My thoughts are that you could do an adequate trial run of
anti-convulsants and let your son judge how much improvement he thinks he
is receiving.  You know, he could always be weaned off of them later.

Barb

Welcome to our group Pamela.  I continue to take medication even though I
haven't had a tonic clonic seizure for 9 years.  The probable reason I
have gone this long without a tonic clonic or complex partial seizure:
1.  Take medication regularly
2.  Pay attention to what triggers my seizures and try to stay away from
those problems
3.  When I do feel like I'm worn out - that a seizure could come, I rest.

Take care,
Julie Walton, Volunteer Webmaster
Epilepsy  Foundation of Idaho
http://www.epilepsyidaho.org

Hi Pamela,

I've had complex partial seizures for 30 years now, and although they have
always been treated, one thing I have found with them is their propensity to
change unexpectedly. What I'm referring to is the nature of the seizure -
how it manifests itself. For example; I went many years before my seizures
started to involve feelings of either extreme anger or extreme fear. This
just suddenly appeared in the seizures for no apparent reason.  Later the
seizures also became more physically violent - thrashing around, clenched
fists, frantically rubbing my head, stomping my feet. Another way they
unexpectedly changed is that I always knew when a seizure was
approaching....had an aura before them. I was dum enough to think this was
good enough to make it safe to drive, but that all changed suddenly and
dramatically and now a man is dead because of it.
What I'm trying to say is that epilepsy is pretty unpredictable and whether
treated or not it can change a lot, so my bet would be to have it treated to
get the best control early on and hopefully it won't have a chance to change
into something much worse.

All the best to you and your son.

Darryl.

I've had partial seizures now for almost 20 years and used lots of different
meds in conjunction with a healthy diet, exercise, and regular sleep.

For me, the seizures became worse when I turned 21 and decided to add alcohol
to my diet.  

I would encourge you to work with the doctors, and question their reasons for
trying the meds they're considering.  Ask them about side effects,
complications, how the med will affect his day to day activities, and ask them
about possible seizure triggers you may be able to eliminate from his
environment, such as the computer...if that is indeed a trigger.

There are some food additives thought to trigger seizures in people who are
seizure prone, and some amino acids that can be used to help attain seizure
control.  Ask lots of questions and insist they explore every option.  If meds
are necessary, insist on finding the lowesty possible dosage toi control the
seizures.  Often, a neurologist will insist on what they call "theraputic blood
levels," which is necessary in intractable seizures, but not always necessary
if the seizures are mild.

I'm not a doctor, just a man with 20 years of seizure history, who's tried many
different meds and many different doctors.  I think female neuros are a little
more compassionate and more willing to work with the patient to find the right
dosage than the male doctors.

Hope this helps.
Tom
tomdaltonz@hotmail.com