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UPDATED: Sat, 01/15/2005 - 8:53am

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tarikata
tarikata

My 13-mo. old son w/ infantile spasms

Hi All,

I am a new user to this website.  My son was diagnosed with infantile spasms at 10 mos. old.  He is currently 13 1/2 mos.  I was very shocked with his diagnosis because he had been a healthy, normal boy since birth.  Plus, I had no complications during labor.  He has met all of his milestones (ie. rolling, sitting up, standing) and can walk up to 10 steps without help.  He was getting 7-9 episodes (each episode can consist of 1 sudden jerk to 40 jerks) daily.  His neurologist recommended Sabril 500 mg, taking 1 tablet a day and slowly increasing to 2 1/4 tablet.  I saw a decrease in his seizure episodes during the first two weeks, but now the frequency has climbed up to 5-6 episodes a day.   He's been on Sabril for almost 2 months now.  I'm a bit perplexed as to why his body is not responding to the medication. 

I understand that ACTH is another option for treating infantile spasms.  Has anyone's child experienced good results from this medication???  How about the ketogenic diet?

Any information would be helpful and appreciated.  Thank you.

A Very Concerned No. Cal Mom

 

 

By tarikata at Sat, 01/15/2005 - 8:53am | 1014 views | 12 comments

Recent Comments on this Discussion

Ya its sad to see infants attacked with these sort of things.And i hope for their early recovery they should be kept under perfect observation and medication for a period of time.I wish they would recover soon.

 

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julias...
Hello, My son was diagonsed at 5 mo. He was put on ACTH. It made him very grumpy. We had to give him injections and that was very difficult. We had him on the ACTH for 2 month with little differences in his spasms. I heard that the Sabril or Viabatrin was a dangerous drug that could cause tunnel vision if the child was on it for an extented time. Our neurologist wants us to try it next. My son is not developmentally delayed...at this point...we want to keep that way. Read my blog...Tommys story maybe we can compare experiences. GOOD LUCK!
Tommysmom
Our son was noted to have Infantiel Spasms at eight months of age. When we saw the outward signs of the eyes rolling back we took him right to Childrens hosptial in Seattle , Wa . They did a study on Infantile spasms years ago and say that ATCH is the best first line treatment to stop the spasms. I'm by no means a Doctor or do I know what is right for your child but for Luke ATCH has been hard on him but so far worth it in the long run. Luke's spasms stopped the fourth day on the ATCH therapy. We were placed in the hospital for extreme agitation for two weeks after twenty days of treatment. Luke was placed on clonidine a blodd pressure medication and that has helped some. We are really hopeful that ATCH stops his spasms for good ! We have read allot on infantile spasms and there are good outcomes as well as bad. Be encourged and keep askign questions of your Doctors ! If they do not know request to be sent to another Doc ! It is true that the early the spasms are stopped the greater the outcome will be . If we can help with names of our Doctors we will ! Maybe request that your Doctor call Childrens Hospital in Seattle and speak to the nero dept for treatment options and care . It might work . I will be praying for you and your family . Ronda
healin...

Ronda, we live in the Northwest and have considered going to Childrens Hospital in Seattle. We have a 9 month old with IS and have been to OHSU and UCLA. What was your experience like in Seattle? Thanks, Pam

Pamelake
I am new to this site as well. My daughter was diagnosed with infantile spasms at 7 weeks old. We started her on ACTH right away. That successfully obliterated the hysppsarythmia, but she is still having daily seizures of another sort. My questions: her seizure do not show up on the eeg -- could this mean they are not seizures? What else could they be? Also, when they talk about outcomes for these children with IS they say stopping the seizures is crucial. Does this mean stopping the hyppsarythmia or all seizures? I am in a panic to stop her seizures and yet, I hate giving her this medicine. If we have stopped the hyppsarythmia is that good? Any advice would be appreciated!Also, we started her on keppra and continue to increase the dose. She has been on it for four weeks -- the seizures are down to one a day, with an occasional seizure free day, from three a day. However, they have increased in length to about 10 minutes. Could the keppra be making them longer.? thanks for any advice
amandaorr
Amanda,If they started getting longer/more severe when she started Keppra, then she is probably having a bad reaction to Keppra. You should consult your doctor right away.Our son had a reaction like that to Topomax... seizures got worse. We took him right off.- AmyQ
amyq

My daughter was born with a very big head. MRI & CT came out normal.  But,  She began her infantile spasms about 4 weeks ago at 14 weeks of age.  She is on ACTH for about 3 weeks now and her spasms tapered off first two weeks but now she developed another kind of seizure.  They still don't know the cause of her IS.  We are tapering off her from the ACTH.  She is so much more fusser and not able to sleep. She is getting her seizure every two to three hours at night, total of 6-7 a day. Do you know any good neurologist around the LA area?  How was your experience tapering your child off the ACTH?  What are your doctors recommending the next step should be?  If your child developed another kind of seizure, did the doctor recommend another kind of medication specific for the seizure?   Any information would be so helpful. 

Thank you

josh24
I have a 4 1/2 year old daughter that was dx with infantile spasms at two months, it has been a long road.  We had her to many doctors and the Cleveland clinic.  At three months we put her on ACTH for six weeks, she went seisure free for about 8 months then they came back.  After about two years going from doctor to doctor that's when we went to the Cleveland Clinic. Over the course of about one year and about 4 or 5 different medications we dedided to try the keito-diet.  Valerie had been on the diet for about 6 months her seisures are tappering off from about 20 a month to 13 to 3 and so far this month only one.  It seems on the diet when the child has a cold they tend to have seisures.  She is still on the medication but we hope to start tappering it off soon.  All the preveious medications she was on would help for a month or two then the seisures would come back.  Epilepsy is a long road with many questions and never enough answeres Good luck
tedb

. my son was born on sept 16, 04 and I started noticing leg spasms at about 1.5 months. he probably was seizing before that but i was unaware of it. he is my third child.  Aidan has had an eeg which did not show any seizures but showed epileptic spikes during the eeg. he has had some blood work and urine tests and an mri- all turned out normal. this is a very scary time for us all and i am so glad i found your posting. i do not know anybody else with a similar situation. . aidan has what they are calling partial motor seizures. we do not see the neurologist until jan 6th so i don't know whether we have more testing done. aidan is on phenobarbital and it is controlling the seizures so far.

how did they disgnose infantile spasms?  i also live in northern california. i am new to this and am just trying to figure out and would ike to find others to talk to. i live in el sobrante.(near richmond)  where are you?   you can email me at jennettegay@sbcglobal.net

jennette

YOU CAN TLAK TO ME PETE NEW YORK,SON 9 MONTHS WITH INFANTILE SPASMS,HE IS CURRENTLY ON ATCH FOR 2 WEEKS,THYE ARE TOTALLY GONE FOR THE TIME BEING.

pETE

audirs...
I would not delay, ACTH is the other first-line drug and often works when Sabril does not. There are risks, so you should limit salt intake, make sure blood pressure and bloodwork is monitored, etc....but go forward, the sooner the seizures are controlled, the better! EpilepsyMD
epilep...

Please find a doctor that will give ACTH.  My 13 month old started IS at 6 1/2 months.  He was having 8 episodes a day and then each day after the FIRST ACTH injection, the episodes decreased by 1/2...4 the next day, 2, then 1, then 1 every other day.  He was having 2 per week when his blood pressure went up.  The doc switched to Valproic Acid.  During the weaning off of ACTH and on to Valproic Acid, he had is last episode.  His first was May 12 this year and his last was June 15.

If your son is developing normally now, it is crucial to get the seizures under control. 

 I was considering the keto diet if the ACTH didn't work but the diet is so so time consuming and very undesireable(I have heard) to the child and you would have to stick to it for over a year.  Use that as a third or fouth option. 

Best wishes

kweiss...