dear Sue

thanks, i will tell my friend that, about the cloth. maybe they can do that. that might be pleasant for her anyway. especially with the heat we are having lately.

i understand the need for seizure control in a person 1. whose functioning is compromised by seizures or 2. whose seizures cause them discomfort. neither is the case here. and from observations in hospital, she does not seize frequently.

the only rationale that comes to mind, in favor of medicating here, is a concern of other types of seizures developing - maybe they were trying to pre-emptively treat other types of seizures?

wouldn't it be better to wait and see if any develop, considering she does NOT have healthy liver and kidneys? it seems to me any AED would be more dangerous for her than a yet-to-happen, other-than-absence-type seizure.

what is your opinion - regarding the whole "premedicating" seizures which do not yet exist, in an elderly woman in vegetative state?

~ waves ~

Hi Waves,
I agree with you the Dr. should not be putting your friend on any AED's unless they know for a fact that she will have sz. often. The best thing they can do is a VEEG (video e.e.g.) on her and while they are doing the test give her a lot of starch foods, as well as beverages with nutra sweet in them like diet soda or coffee or tea with nutra sweet. These 2 things have been known to start absence/petit mal sz. in people who have epilepsy. My main concern is that if she does continue to have sz. it could cause the cells in the brain to split and divide leaving more brain damage and this could lead to having complex partial as well as tonic clonic (grand mal) sz. This is what happened with me from the scar tissue on my brain the cells split up and then I started having complex partial sz. and yrs. later clonic sz. Your friend could try taking Vitamin B12 or just B complex vitamins also this will help her and possilbly stop any sz.
As I mentioned doing a veeg is the best thing because the Dr. will be able to tell if the scar tissue will cause more sz. for your friend.
Here's wishing all of you well and May God Bless You!

Sue

Dear Sue

thank you, once again. i will tell my friend all of these things. i am hoping i will get to visit her soon - she does not live near me and between her working and going to look in on her mom it hasn't been possible. it's been a long time now since this started but there haven't been any developments she said.

the last time i mentioned asking the docs about not medicating her mom, she became very alarmed and said that her dad would have to "consent" to taking the mom off the meds. this suggested to me she saw it as risky business. i was not particularly insistent as and i did not want to risk frightening her about the med itself, in case she went the other way and decided to just stop it which, if done abruptly would obviously be a baaad idea.

see, i have gotten the sense that she is afraid of the whole "seizure" concept and isn't really hearing/grasping that there are different kinds and that the kind her mom has are not some dire, life-threatening thing. my hope is if i can sit down with her i can maybe give her some more general information and reassure her, suggest/explain the veeg to test the scar tissue, and medication considerations.

but i can certainly tell her over the phone regarding
1. using the damp cloth for cooling,
2. the B vitamins especially b12, and
3. the dietary considerations

these are simple enough things - i hope she will go for that! thank you so much - for everything!

~ waves ~

Hi Waves,
I am more than happy to help you and your friend out. I hope all goes well and I wish you and your friend only the best of luck. If I can be of any more help please feel free to ask. Here's wishing you and your friend only the best of luck and May God Bless All of You!

Sue