our 6 year old daughter has absence seizures...10-50/day. They have not been controlled by any meds. We all had a stomach virus and took her to ER because she could not take her meds. They gave her 2 bags of IV fluid (1 glucose and 1 sodium). She didn't have a seizure for 6 days!! She was having seizures right up to the time of the I.V. Anyone had a similar experience? Any info would be helpful. Dr. thinks we're nuts!

Originally posted by Possum69:
our 6 year old daughter has absence seizures...10-50/day. They have not been controlled by any meds. We all had a stomach virus and took her to ER because she could not take her meds. They gave her 2 bags of IV fluid (1 glucose and 1 sodium). She didn't have a seizure for 6 days!! She was having seizures right up to the time of the I.V. Anyone had a similar experience? Any info would be helpful. Dr. thinks we're nuts!

You're not nuts. You stumbled upon a truth, so don't let go of it. Your daughter is walking around with an electrolyte imbalance that needs to be fixed. The primary variables are sodium, potassium, and magnesium. First take a look at your pantry and refrigerator and what she eats and drinks at school. (Too many kids try to live on cereal and milk twice a day.) All soda and fruit juices are out. Mineral water and some fruit are in. If you are in doubt about what it takes to maintain a body in top shape, Dr. Atkins is one of many who have written extensively on the subject. If you are convinced that you are doing everything right, then take her to a doctor who will examine her heart and her electrolytes. And if her meds are accomplishing nothing, I would question the decision to continue them. You are on the right track--stick with it.

I'm certainly not disagreeing with the previous poster. I did have another thought though based upon my own experiences with the exact same problem for me as well as several other family members.

First, for some people, being "fluid poor" as opposed to actual dehydration CAN cause increase sz'ing in some people. I've read that some children, not all, are more sensitive to this than others. Perhaps your daughter was rehydrated enough, it slowed her sz's down. Only a thought to give to you.

If your child is having that many absences a day,any kind of frequent sz activity can screw around with blood glucose levels. You stated your child received an IV volume of glucose? Glucose is a blood sugar. It could be her frequent sz'ing made her hypoglycemic, or she had low blood sugar which the IV fluids restored. Were her blood sugars tested? I'd ask if you're not positive.

In myself I have very frequent sz activity. I know it can mess with the blood glucose levels and I happen to be very touchy to changes in my own. I don't really know if blood sugar levels normally go up or down during very active sz activity. Mine have gone both ways. For that matter so has my blood pressure. Soaring high and frighteningly low for both these factors.

IF it is determined that her blood glucose levels were low? Make sure you don't try to counteract hypoglycemia with simple refined sugars such as table sugar, candy bars, that type of thing. I've been given milk, cheese, more complex sugars that metabolize slower so I'm not given a rush and then hit a big boom. If you don't know what her levels were upon admission, they weren't taken, you can ask your doctor to give you a prescription for a glucometer you can use easily at home to test your child's levels on days she has high sz activity. In most labs normal is considered 80-110. Check with your doctor what he thinks of this idea and what he considers normal in the lab he uses. You can rent or buy glucometers in most drug stores.

I can FEEL when my sugar levels are dropping after several years of it effecting me, getting to know what it feels like and I don't drop out of the normal range before I'm effected by increased sz'ing.

Just some additional thoughts.

Good luck

Ingrid

Dehydration can be a big cause of seizures, and likely she had meds still in her system (depending on what they were), or the levels were falsely concentrated because of the dehydration. At any rate, if the fluids helped, that's great. Sometimes, the simple solutions (no pun intended) work the best.