Myoclonic seizure cluster Zack April 2009

Zack was diagnosed with generalized epilepsy when he was three years old. Later it was determined he has Lennox Gastaut Syndrom. He has 5-15 minutes of myoclonic seizures after waking up in the morning. During the day he has sporadic myoclonic jerks and absence seizures. Since puberty began last year (he is now 18 years old) the grand mal seizures have increased. Having so many seizures on a daily basis has caused Zack to be mentally impaired. He functions as a 5-6 year old. Zack has been on every AED and AED cocktail. He currently takes 750mg of Depakote ER 2x daily along with 150mg of Vimpat 2x daily. We have also attempted the ketogenic diet but dr.'s at U of M suggested we discontinue because its effects on him were life threatening. The vagal nerve stimlulator was also uneffective in controlling his seizures.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Epilepsy
• myoclonic
• seizure
• cluster
• Lennox
• Gastaut
• Zack

[Rickstad]

Vimpat has helped decrease the duration although it increases the side effects of Depakote one of which is trembling hands. We've added a beta blocker to help with his shaky hands but haven't noticed much improvement.

[Rickstad]

Zack still has clusters of seizures in the morning. He also has many absence seizures throughout the day and periodic myoclonic jerks. Some days are better than others. The vimpat makes him very shaky though :( Thank you for asking ;)

[AngelChick03]

How is he?

[tarnhelm2]

Do you think Vimpat caused shakiness?

[CandaceRatcliff]

i feel bad

[se7enspeaker]

How is Zack doing now?