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Toddlers: 24 Months+
alaskanmomma
member
Would you give your 2 (almost 3) year old this medication?
alaskanmomma
member
I already have my doctors reccomendation, but Im just looking for other parents opinions. Im not asking you what to do-Im just asking what would you do if this was your child. I wan to get as many opinions as possible.
In september our daughter got a UTI. She's had recurrent Uti's since she turned 1. They've checked her kidneys and done all the apropriate tests, and everything has come back fine. They've said that sometimes kids just get recurrent uti's and will have grown out of them by the time they are 3 or 4. Our daughter is 3 (almost). So also while she had a uti, she had a seizure-the first seizure that she has had. And ever since then she was fine. Its now November, and she has another uti 
She also had a seizure during this uti as well. (Granted for the other uti's she's had in the past she has never had a seizure with them).
So the doctor has not diagnosed her with a seizure disorder. But he wants to start her on a medication that is for treating and preventing seizures for epilepsy. Its called Levetiracetam. Now we are very hesitant, and actually have not started her on this medication because for one: they have not diagnosed her with a seizure disorder. (she's only had 2), also, I personally think and the doctor said it could be because her immune system was lowered these last two times with the uti's and that has caused the seizures, and lastly because of the side effects of this medication. They are: drowsiness, dizziness, weakness, loss of coordination/controling muscles, mental/mood changes, aggression, irritability, anger, anxiety, depression. I just dont feel comfortable with these side effects and using this medication long term (talking one to two years) just to prevent something that may or may not happen again.
What do you think? What would you do if this was your child and medication?
No abnormality's of the kidneys or reflux. She was referred and saw a peds neurologist on Oct 17th. He found no reason for the seizures, eeg was normal. He did not diagnose her with any seizure disorder.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Would you give your 2 (almost 3) year old this medication?
I would not give it to her. The occasional childhood seizure does not cause any problems or long term difficulties...the medicine may. If I were you I would:
(1) tell the pediatrician I am concerned about the side effects of the medication and having her on meds she may not need. I would ask if s/he is comfortable withholding the meds and monitoring her for several months to see how she does.
(2) I would also talk to the pediatric neurologist and ask his thoughts on her beginning the medication. Chances are he's more familiar with the med and may know more about it than a pediatrican.
I hope you're able to get more info and find peace with whatever you decide. I hope you're LO outgrows the UTIs soon too.
I pretty much agree with this! I wouldn't refuse to give it, but I'd want more information about the pros/cons before starting. I would strongly recommend getting a 2nd opinion from a pediatric neurologist, though, as I'm sure they use the drug a lot more and have a lot more experience with it and perhaps different criteria for prescribing it. Hope DD is feeling better soon!
My DD had a seizure when she was a baby. She was in NICU. They did an EEG, which came back normal. But, they said they wouldn't know for sure unless they did an MRI. The EEG wasn't conclusive. Fortunately, the MRI came back normal too. They concluded that she had a reaction to one of the meds she was taking. You might want to talk to the neurologist about doing an MRI before you give meds for seizures.
This makes me feel much better! I was starting to feel like maybe I was not making the best decision-because the doctor just called and couldnt understand why I hadnt started her on this medicine.
I think we are going to go back into the hospital tonight, when our doctor comes in and talk to him more about it. They talked about an MRI-but they dont want to do one right now-for what reason I dont know-but I will be asking what the reason is.
It's hard, because we live in Nome, Alaska. So in order to have an MRI or to see the peds nueorologist again, they ahve to refer us and send us down to anchorage. We do not have an MRI machine here or anything like that.
I think DH and I feel much more comfortable knowing that for the majority other parents would make the same decision as us.
And they have tested her kidneys, and had the vcug (I think thats it) and everything has come back normal. No cause that they can find for the uti's.
Its just frustrating, because she's been very healthy (besides the uti's). I just hate seeing her in pain or sick.
They probably want to avoid an MRI because I'm pretty sure she'll have to be sedated for the procedure.
FWIW, you go to hell and back getting opinions and second-guessing yourself when it comes to your child's treatment. Even then, you're never 100% sure, you can only make peace with the decisions you make and move forward with the results.
I wouldn't have administered any meds without a definite dx from whoever I chose to direct my child's care.
My initial gut reaction is to say no, I would not give it to her. I'm not a big medication person, especially with children. But, before making my decision I would need to know more specifics about the seizures, and specially the long term effects they might cause. I would then weigh that against the potential long term effects of the medication.
To provide an example, my 18 month old has had a runny nose and cough for over a month. It's borderline viral/bacterial b/c the phlegm is clear but somewhat yellow. She also had fluid in her ears, but no infection (yet). She fell at school the other day on the concrete and got two bad bruises and cuts on her face. She has also been really clumsy in other situations (most likely due to the fluid in her ears). I chose to give amoxicillin b/c she could hurt her self from all of these falls, and it's likely that a cold that runs that long will turn into an ear infection and need meds anyway.
So, that was a long winded way of saying that although I'm not a medicine person, I do think there are times when they are justified. But, I weigh a lot of different factors before deciding.
As an aside, you might look into natural ways of curing and preventing. UTI's. I'm sure you've tried cranberry juice, but maybe there are other things you could give her on a regular basis.
GL and I hope she feels better!
DS was much younger (6 months), but we went through something similar. He was doing weird jerky movements that the neurologist thought were seizures until his EEG (I think that is what he had - it was a long time ago - little wires stuck to his skull for 24 hours) came back normal. The "seizures" seemed to coincide with his vaccinations and subsequent illness from the vacs (specifically, seemed to be flu vaccine). They continued over several months, and then stopped and never came back.
We took him to a second pediatric neurologist (at Johns Hopkins, no less) and he said it was what he called "WBS - weird baby sh!t" lol.
I would never put my kid on seizure meds until I knew for sure that he had actual seizures that were confirmed by at least two neurologists. Those meds can be very, very dangerous. And if she only had two seizures, which seemed to coincide both times with a specific illness (UTI), I would not do anything after ruling out seizures.
ETA: I forgot to mention we also had an MRI, which also came back normal.
Strangely enough, DS also had kidney reflux (which has since resolved), but never got a UTI. I don't think they were connected in my case.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think your are saying that you've only seen your pediatrician and not a neurologist. A neurologist would not blindly put a little kid on meds without doing extensive testing first.
I also wanted to say that I would think about finding a different pediatrician. I can't believe your pedi took two isolated events and decided that your kid needed to be on super hard-core drugs, without even referring you to a neurologist. I wouldn't be able to trust advice coming from this person again. The reasonable thing to do would be to refer you to a neurologist to do more testing and actually rule out a seizure disorder before putting your kid on meds for something that she may not even have.
ETA - sorry, saw at the bottom that you did see the ped neurologist. So who wants you to give the meds, the neurologist or your pediatrician? I can't imagine why the neurologist would want you on the meds if he concluded that your DD does not have a seizure disorder?