I am sorry for your struggles with your son right now.
and i do not know about the medicines that he is on.
but What poped to my mind reading this post is. Could it be possiable that with him losing that much weight from not eating and him seeing this has effect him in the way of him not wanting to eat cause he will gain the weight back. Could he have a eating problem?And it not be the medicine. Could it be something like anorexia?
I am saying this because i have been over weight most of my life.And when i hit numbers i never wanted to hit then go over i wanted to do nothing more then stop eating. Even at 23 theres times that i just want to stop and not eat so i would lose the weight. (I can not do this because i know i have to stay healthy for my kids) But when i was 19 and hit the magic numbers of 150 during pregnancy i want them numbers back. the only reason i got that low was becuase of sever morning sickness. but it plays with my mind alot.
maybe you can have his neuro evaluate him for eating problems and not just the medicine.
but as for beign 23 and wanting to spend the money on games nad such. i think its kind of normal.
sarah
--- In epilepsy@yahoogroup
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> Not quite sure where to begin. I'd like to hear from parents of "older" children, ie over 20. And maybe from those who have been where my son is now. And for that matter, anybody who might be able to impart wisdom. So I guess this is to everybody.
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> My son (Aaron) will be 23 next month. The meds he's currently taking are Lamictal, Tegretol and Dilantin, which was added only about 4 weeks ago, which replaced Depakote. Some months ago the third med in the trio that he tried was Vimpat. It was not very effective and caused significant loss of appetite and consequently weight loss as well. At that time, the weight loss was actually a welcomed side effect since he was about 217 then and was not happy at all with his appearance. Then Vimpat was replaced with Banzel, which caused further weight loss and still not effective seizure control. December was a record seizure month for him at 18 or 19. We was not liking the loss of appetite, which did subside somewhat, but was really "digging" the weight loss. His "fat" pants were falling down around his ankles and he was pretty jazzed. He said he never ever wanted to weigh that much again and had set a target weight for himself of between 180 and 185 which is what he weighed when he graduated in 2005.
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> When we saw his neuro Jan 4, she was of course quite surprised by the amount of weight he had lost and told him then that he needed to not lose anymore weight. She weighed him that day and he weighed 167. I was shocked. That same day we began titrating off the Banzel and onto the Dilantin (300 mg/day). The Dilantin actually seems to be doing something positive since he only had 1 seizure last week! On Jan 18 he went in for labs to check levels and it came back showing he was quite low on all 3 drugs. Weird. During the time of getting on the Dilantin he has still not been able/willing to eat much. The Dilantin was increased to 400 mg/day.
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> As of this morning, my son weighs 158. I am within inches of freaking out. He just won't eat. Can't eat? Is it possible that the Banzel left behind an unwanted side effect or is it long gone from his system and we're dealing with something completely unrelated? He is somewhat immature for his age and would rather spend his money on games/movies than food. But now it's getting ridiculous. It's almost as if his ability or desire for survival has gone out the window! He's wanting to buy a PS3 on Wed so he has flat out refused to purchase any food for himself, expecting me to do that for him.
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> Has anyone here who takes or has taken Dilantin in the past, had it affect appetite? I have read lots of stuff about Dilantin and loss of appetite wasn't on the list. I am at whit's end. I have tried to talk to him about this and told him that maybe he needs to see the doc to rule out anything more sinister, but he flat out refuses. What can I do? He's an adult. I can't force him!
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> Sorry for unloading all of this in such a loooooong post. I just figured that someone here may have some insight. There are so many knowledgeable folks here. Any wisdom anyone can offer will be greatly appreciate. Thanks and God bless!
> Michelle
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