Here is a picture of Jackson on Christmas day. I know it is not a great picture but I took it because he is actually having a seizure. Jackson has been diagnosed with Epilepsy. He does not have grand mal seizure, like most people associate with epilepsy, but rather a form called Petite Mal or Absence seizures. This means he literally "zones out" for 15-20 seconds. We started noticing them about a year ago but at first we just thought he was "ignoring" us. In the beginning they were really in frequent but as the year progressed so did the number of episodes. It wasn't until the Bishop from our Church was over and I pointed it out to him when Jackson was having one and he recognized it right away as he has a older daughter that had it when she was young. How wonderful to finally have an idea of what may be happening to him. Most children grow out of it by the age of 15 or so and that they lead normal lives. Jackson is on medication now and it seems to really be helping! On Christmas morning he had probably 10 seizures in 3 minutes. So imagine only hearing bits and pieces of conversations, it would be like listening to a CD that skips every 5 min for 10-20 seconds at a time. You miss allot of information.
His behaviour has completely changed since being on the meds, it is like he is a different kid, I mean he still is your typical 6 year old but now he can focus and he is much more obedient. What is hard, is that people will still be rude to me when he has an episode, (he still has them occasionally, but they do not last as long) if he stops in the middle of walking and people bump into him, they give him and me this dirty look and I explain he is having a seizure, they look at me like am an idiot, because they think he should be convulsing if he is having a seizure.
Dumb people!
Any way I am just so happy and relieved that he is on meds and they are helping. It was funny because the Dr. thought initially he just had ADD and had me and his teacher fill out a questionnaire about it. Most kids with this type of epilepsy get misdiagnosed with a learning disability or ADD/ADHD, since the seizures them selves can be hard to recognize. I was very clear that I was happy to test him for this, but it was not what was going on. It was awesome to take the questionnaires in and have the Dr. go over them and tell me that he definitely did NOT have ADDor ADHD!
Mommas know best!
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5 comments:
oh wow! I didn't know about that kind of epilepsy, I guess I've learned my "something new" for today :) Yay for having it diagnosed, and yay for medication that can help him!
Wow, thats crazy. It's nice to finally know though. Hopefully the medication will help him!
I had heard of that but never knew a child with it. Wow! That's great that you finally know what is going on. There is nothing so frustrating for a mother than to know something isn't right and not be able to get an answer. Glad to hear that there is a plan and he can get the help he needs. BTW, I get what you mean about ignorant people...we still deal with them. Kennedy has severe neuropathy in her legs from her feet to her hips that causes pain, weakness, tingling and numbness so she has a disabled parking permit...you can not imagine the looks we get from people...elderly people are the worse about it. They look at me and don't even consider the fact that it could be my daughter! Especially because she is not in a wheelchair.
Wow! I almost had a heart attack when I read the first couple of lines but by the end I was so relieved! I am so happy you were able to figure out how to help him and what the problem was. Let us know how he is doing. We are thinking about you guys a lot!!
Mommas do know best!
(Ellie)
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