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ebrown78 avatar

13-year-old daughter with refractory epilepsy

Epilepsy & Seizures | Last Active: Jun 21 9:48am | Replies (20)

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Profile picture for Chris Gautier, Volunteer Mentor @santosha

@ebrown78
Thank you for sharing that additional information with us.
I am sorry to hear that the previous experiences your daughter had at epilepsy centers have not been of much help.
As a doctor once explained to me, seizures can start before the first menstruation because of hormonal changes. Perhaps this is what has happened to your daughter? As I suffer from catamenial seizures (hormone-related seizures), my doctor, together with my gynecologist have put me on a birth control pill that I take without pausing for up to 6 months. It has reduced my seizures triggered by hormonal changes greatly, especially while menstruating.
You mentioned your daughter's seizures start with focal ones evolving to secondary generalized seizures. My seizures also start with focal ones, and I was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. The first MRIs I had, did not show any brain damage; all was OK. But later, through a specific MRI, it showed that I have a small mesial sclerosis in my temporal lobe, a type of epilepsy which is known to be highly refractory to medication. My epilepsy is also not genetically related; it was caused by an accident I had when I was 5 years old. It remained silent until I started puberty.
Today, after several trials and errors in my epilepsy journey, my seizures have been under control for 5 months already with Keppra. So, there is hope!!!
You said that your daughter is taking progesterone daily. Has this changed her seizure pattern during her menstruation?
Do you know in which part of the brain the seizures of your daughter start?
I hope Mayo can bring you new perspectives and treatment options!
All my best!
Chris

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Replies to "@ebrown78 Thank you for sharing that additional information with us. I am sorry to hear that..."

Hi Chris,
My brain MRI is normal too. You mentioned: "The first MRIs I had, did not show any brain damage; all was OK. But later, through a specific MRI, it showed that I have a small mesial sclerosis in my temporal lobe, a type of epilepsy which is known to be highly refractory to medication. " Could you please share what the specific MRI you did later to show the samll mesial sclerosis? Just want to see if I should suggest to my doctor to try it.

Thanks!

Thank you for sharing your story! My daughter originally started with intractable focal epilepsy with secondary generalization at age 7. It went into remission after 8 months. She was seizure-free for over two years and then started with eye rolling episodes . Then about a year and a half ago started with what we thought were myoclonic jerks. Those would happen occasionally and seemed to worsen when she’s menstruating. She had a cluster of those jerks on Christmas and then had a tonic clonic. She went on progesterone in January but her cycles are still bee irregular. In April she started having TCs weekly and then in May, they became very frequent. She has had 2 hospitalizations in the last month. One hospital said that seizures are generalized and the other focal. The most recent said right focal.