Epilepsy 360 December 2013 FAQ My daughter is on a high dose of antiepileptic drug and struggling in school. Could it be the medications?? Medications can be part of the problem, but usually learning difficulties have many causes. If it is mainly medication, side-effects are usually worse in the first few weeks of starting it – or it can be related to the dose. Certainly a high dose can affect cognition (memory, attention and learning). Some signs that learning difficulties relate to medication include: - Difficulties happen at a certain time of day, such as shortly after taking medication, corresponding to the peak levels of medication in the blood; - Difficulties coincided with starting medication rather than when the seizures started; - Difficulties or side-effects are noticed the first few weeks of starting medication or when there is a change or increase in medication dose. It is important to check with your neurologist whether the dose can be reduced without high risk of seizures or the medication changed. The ideal situation is taking one medication, the lowest dose possible without seizures. Obviously this is not always possible, but unacceptable side-effects should be addressed. It’s also a good idea to discuss what to do with your daughter’s school. They need to recognise she has some difficulties and put strategies in place to help, such as an Individual Education Plan (IEP).
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 01:10:13 +0000
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