HOW LONG DO SEIZURES NEED TO BE TREATED? WHAT IS THE CHANCE OF MY CHILD COMING OFF MEDICINE AND STAYING SEIZURE-FREE?
HOW LONG DO SEIZURES NEED TO BE TREATED? WHAT IS THE CHANCE OF MY CHILD COMING OFF MEDICINE AND STAYING SEIZURE-FREE?When your child has been free of seizures, on medication, for two years:• Those children who have had idiopathic seizures, and who have no evidence of neurologic dysfunction, and whose EEG is normal or near normal have a 90 to 95 percent chance of remaining seizure-free without medication;• Those children who have had epilepsy caused by old and nonprogressive brain damage, such as a birth injury or head trauma, have a 40 to 60 percent chance of staying seizure-free off medication, even if their EEGs are moderately abnormal;• Those children whose EEGs are severely abnormal, and, particularly, if their EEGs are worse than when their seizures began, have a 90 to 9 5 percent chance of having more seizures if medicine is discontinued—even if they have been free of seizures for two years on medicine.These scenarios represent points on a spectrum. How then does someone decide whether or not medication should be discontinued or can be discontinued safely? Here we have to go back to our risk-benefit analysis. Remember that the risks are yours and your child’s, as are the benefits. Thus, you both have to be full partners with your physician as these decisions are made.*136\208\8*
