Does anyone have any info on Petit Mal Seizures - I was told that my son may have this instead of PDD NOS?

My friends dd has this, but she also has severe autism and mental retardation on top of it. She was dx with "infintile" seizures at like 5 mos old. Now at 11 almost 12, she has the petite Mal and Grand Mal DAILY.. EVERY DAY. There is nothing they can do for her. She got the Vagle (sp) nerve implant and even talked surgery to split her brain in half to help the seizures, but they are EVERYWHERE in her brain, not just one small spot.

It is possible that your son has both and needs treated for both. Your best bet is to control the seizures and see how he is once they are controlled.

Good luck :)

Lindy have the doctors run a EEG,MRI, Metabolic panel to check for diseases of the kidney,liver , low levels of sodium,calcium,magnesium, altered blood sugar levels high low on your son.

Thank you for the response.

My son will be going for all these tests next month - We'll see what happens.
I'll let you know!


Lindy have the doctors run a EEG,MRI, Metabolic panel to check for diseases of the kidney,liver , low levels of sodium,calcium,magnesium, altered blood sugar levels high low on your son.

I was just told this same thing is a possibility with my son. This is very interesting. My son is going to have the metabolic testing and eeg next month.
Why did they suddenly decide this was a possibility?

My sister in law read an article about this mother who had exactly the same thing with her son. Then finally when he was about 7 she went to a Psyciatrist because she couldn't cope and he (OF ALL DOCTORS!!!!) suggested this to her. She took him for the tests and it was Petite Mal Seizures!! Now he's 9, on medication, talking - No Problems!!!

Please let me know what happens with your son's test results.
I will keep you posted what happens to Connor.

Good luck!!

I will keep you posted. The reason this came about for my son was that I told his Dev. Ped. that there are times I feel like the PDD is going away because he begins to really develop the wham..... out of nowhere he regresses for no known reason and the PDD signs are really prevelent for a few days to a week, then he seems to be okay. It's a pattern that he's been following however he is VERY affected by dietary infractions. If he has anything with Diary he's off the wall for a week with extremely difficult behaviors. So I guess its a wait and see. I will let you know. Good Luck

That's so funny. Connor is on the GFCF diet and I get exactly the same reaction as soon as he eats something he's not allowed!

I will wait to hear from you!



I will keep you posted. The reason this came about for my son was that I told his Dev. Ped. that there are times I feel like the PDD is going away because he begins to really develop the wham..... out of nowhere he regresses for no known reason and the PDD signs are really prevelent for a few days to a week, then he seems to be okay. It's a pattern that he's been following however he is VERY affected by dietary infractions. If he has anything with Diary he's off the wall for a week with extremely difficult behaviors. So I guess its a wait and see. I will let you know. Good Luck

I would also think the doctor might run a Fragile x test also just to rule it out .Im going to talk with my daughters doctor about her and this test because shes never been tested and ive read children in spectrum should be tested.

Hi; If I'm not mistaken, I believe fragile x test is for boys only. My son had this test and he does not have fragile x. I could be wrong I'm not positive

It can occur in females but to a lesser degree.Actually between 2 to 6 percent of people who fall within the spectrum have fragile x very low number.I would like to have her tested to be sure.

I have a whole family history of Petit Mal type seizures in my family. I was dx'd with it when I was 4 yrs old. The majority of the time with Petit Mal there is a family history of it. I did alot of reserch on the subject when I was in high school so that I could educate my classmates on the differant type of seizures that there are.

With Petit Mal seizures there is a small spot in the cerberal cortex that has these small hair like fibers called cillia and there is 1 that brushes of them and this is what sends the signals to the brain to hear, see, etc. During a Petit Mal seizure this 1 hair happens to "jump" or "skip" some of the cillia. Usually the person having the seizure is totally unaware that they are having the seizure at all. Most people around the person is also unaware that they are having a seizure also. All it looks like to everyone is that the person having the seizure is "day dreaming". Depending on the degree of Petit Mal seizure, there are several differant degrees of this.

In my case I am able to see, hear, feel, but am unable to respond in any way to the stimuli. Most the time it will only last for a few seconds, but if my kids notice me "going off" they will make a really loud noise in my ear and that will snap me out of it.

An EEG is the best way to tell if your little one is having the seizures. But also understand if they are very mild it might not show up on the EEG the first time and you may have to repeat the test a second time. With my oldest son it took 2 such scans to decect what I had already seen. He has since out grown it and now longer has any seizures. When you go for the scan it is very easy for the kids. If anything they seem to like it because they have to stay up very late, because they can only have no more that 4 hours of sleep the night before the test. The reason for this is that during the test the tech. needs the patient to fall asleep for at least 30 minutes during the test.

I am sorry for going on so long. I hope that some of this information is helpful to you.

ftbworker