I have a 4-year-old son who suffers from absent seizures. I was told that they usually go by the time he is a teenager, but I have recently learned that they could progress to grand mal. Should I put him on drugs or wait until he is a teenager? I obviously don't want to put him on drugs if it isn’t necessary. He has these episodes up to 10 times daily lasting for around 10 seconds.

My own feeling is that I would be concerned about letting my son go unmedicated for a prolonged period of having "absence seizures" 10 times a day, even if they only last 10 seconds.

Think of all the times when your son might be running around the playground or climbing on a jungle gym or doing some other activity that could suddenly become dangerous if he suddenly lost even partial consciousness for a few seconds. Think of how you might shelter him or treat him differently if you expected him to have these symptoms every hour for several years -- would you let him play baseball, ride a bicycle, perform in school plays, or learn to swim? Also, if these seizures are noticeable to his peers, think how it could impact his social acceptance and self esteem. Finally, how would it impact his learning if he could "go blank" at any time when he is trying to concentrate on an important lesson? There are studies that suggest that children who go untreated or undertreated have more psychological, behavioral, and learning problems than other children. No one wants to put their child on chronic medication if they don't have to. But, you also have to weigh the significant risks of not taking medication against the potential benefits of taking it.

Of course, I don't know exactly what your situation is, what the exact symptoms are, or what is felt to be causing the seizures. And I am not a neurologist, so it's not really possible for me to say for sure what you should do. But, if your son has a pediatric neurologist (and I do hope he has one) you should ask for his or her recommendation. If the pediatric neurologist is recommending seizure medication, then I'd be very much inclined to go with that. Usually, children with absence seizures, especially if they happen frequently, are treated with medication -- not just because they could progress to grand mal, but because absence seizures can still cause serious problems even if they don't progress to something worse.

Best wishes, and please do let us know what happens.

Dr. Mike Potter

-- Michael Potter, MD, is an associate professor at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center.

First published March 29, 2005
Last updated September 18, 2008
Copyright © 2005 Consumer Health Interactive