April 2011 Moms
Advice- Breath holding with seizure
My son (16 months) had had a history of breath holding spells since he was 6 months. On his 8th month of life he had his first breath holding spell with seizure. The seizure lasted 10 mins! We took him to the ER and all blood tests came back normal. Since then he has had 15 or so breath holding spells with seizure ranging from 1-5 mins. Each time he has them it is because he is tired and something stressful happens. example, trips, falls and his head or has to get in car seat and doesn't want to. A few months ago we were referred to a neurologist. My son has then had a normal EKG and EEG. Doctor at one point said he wanted to see a video of the seizure. At the time we did not have one. The neurologist cleared him of any seizure disorder. But said he would like a follow up in 4 months. And that if he ever had a seizure without a trigger to call him right away. A few weeks past and we were able to get a video of his seizure. We sent it to the doctor and he called us right away. We talked to him and wanted to put him on keppra. He said in a few months he may have a seizure without a trigger. My questions are... do children who have seizures after holding breath get treated with Keppra? I thought that was for people with epilepsy? Can breath holding spell seizures turn into epilepsy? I do not want to put my son on medication if he doesn't really need it. Also, doctor said it has no side effects but reading about it online I see it can cause aggressive behavior. I should also say my son is very advanced for his age when it comes to language. The seizures don't seem to have any effect on him. So, putting him on medicine that will have an effect seems like not a good option. Thanks for everyone's help! Please give opinion, advice, suggestions.
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Re: Advice- Breath holding with seizure
My oldest is on keppra for her seizures and yes it does change the moods so they gave her something else to counter act it. She also has high anxiety and depression.
I would ask the neurologist why he/she thinks keppra is the meds they choose and the other questions you asked here.
A breath holding/not breathing seizure lasting more then a minuet is considered dangerous (my ex also has epilepsy and that is the number they say to call the ambulance). perhaps they are thinking the keppra will stop the seizures all together.
My DD leads a normal life while on keppra but at first the moods were not fun.