Valproic Acid

Changing the seizure treatment to valproic acid was overall great choice. I'll admit it was difficult to tell how much the medication was affecting his behaviour. Since he was 3 years old, it was pretty hard to tell what was as a result of meds or just him. He was extremely strong willed and somewhat aggressive, perhaps the valproic intensified it. However, we just dealt with behaviours and issues as they came, just as any parent would do when raising their children.

One positive thing about the valproic acid we noticed right away was how much easier it was to give him the medication. It was in liquid form and simple to give one quick squirt with the syringe, 3 times a day, and done. Much less wrestling.

The long term positive to using the valproic acid was that he had no seizure activity. The medication kept the seizures at bay for 2 1/2 years. It was incredible. We were so excited to meet with his neurologist in the summer of 2009 with the expectation that our son would be weaned off the medication, and that he had quite likely grown out of the epilepsy.

It was definitely a time of optimism. Our son was really flourishing. He was growing out of some younger tendencies with food pickiness, roughness, tantrums, and was generally becoming more independent. He no longer required speech pathology, which he had been doing through the ages of 3 and 4. He had a great year in kindergarten, and was continuing to learn and grow in grade 1. He could read well, was good with numbers, and made friends easily. He also loved to dance in a hip hop class. All in all our son was happy, as a 6 year old should be.

After about 6 months of loving life with our son free of medication, things turned for the worse...much worse.