Newbie! Autism and epilepsy...

melspice · 01-20-2005, 08:08 PM

Hi! My son is 15 and severely autistic. In the last year, he has developed epilepsy, though his seizures are not regular. He had a few absences at the beginning of last year, and then one GM, then nothing till august, and he was having 2 fits a day, until about november, and we have had nothing since(touch wood!). The neurologist we saw put him on sodium valporate, but because of the side effects we were told of, we decided to wait till after Christmas. However, I am now hesitant to start him on it at all. Maybe he won't have another fit for ages, so what is the point in giving him medication for something so infrequent.Any advice or empathy would be greatly appreciated!
And another thing that got up my nose was the neurologist putting it all down to his autism, when the two are not linked at all! Help!
Melx

Asperger family · 01-21-2005, 11:12 AM

Hi poster, well i sure empathize with you, raising children, let alone an autistic one is hard job, the hardest job you will ever have. I dont agree with his doctor, just contributing these factors to autism. When my sons psychiatrists evaluated him, he said that we are not treating autism, we are treating the symptoms. Every sysmptom needs to be looked at as itself, not as apart of something else. Has an MRI been done or whatever they call it to enalalyze his brain activity? IM not too educated on epilepsy, although I would think a good doctor would want to take a better look at this and see whats going on for sure. Good luck and I hope you find a doctor who will take this more seriously. God Bless

I Love LJC · 01-21-2005, 10:10 PM

Thats crazy! My girl is ASD and never had a seizure.Her neurologist ran a Brain MRI and also a EEG tests the waves in brain all normal. He was looking for any brain damage and tumors and an array of other things in the brain.She also had her lower spine MRI done due to dimple lower spine region read another post whose son also had one too same place the poster said maybe due to high tec ultra sound i had one too! Any way spine fine with my girl. Getting back on track.Hope your Sons Doc will do this also for your Son.Hes a neurologist and he gave you that answer.Have those tests run on your Son.Also can you figure the seizure had to do with a illness your son had at time of seizure ex fever, infection Strep.My Best to You and Yours

melspice · 01-22-2005, 09:10 AM

Hi, and thanks for your input.The neurologist we saw was trying to suggest my son was fainting,through lack of energy, as a result of not eating. My son never stops eating! Though he has a very limited diet, he does not like meat for instance, he eats well and never goes hungry. The neurologist also said there was 'not much point' doing a brain scan, as he'd had two when he was younger, and if there was anything it would have showed up then. But surely he should check to see why he is fitting now? When we go back next month, I am going to ask for a second opinion, cos i think this particular doctor is biased against treating my son, as he doesn't understand autism.

I Love LJC · 01-23-2005, 01:45 AM

Did your son during his fitting was he sick say with a Sorethroat infection,ear he could of had strep. Strep can cause fitting .Any fainting is not good hows his BP his blood is he hypoglycemic etc anemic have a comprehensive blood panel run and a basic metabolic panel too it checks alot of things.