Neurologist

As you most likely know, from either talking to us or reading my blog, Morgan has had some health issues lately. Just in case you haven't talked to us in awhile, she had an "episode" as I like to call it, at school back in February which seemed to me to be a whole lot like a seizure. She was taken to the ER by ambulance and there she told us that the same thing happened to her at home just 2 days before. There was some question about a diagnosis right from the start. It looked like seizures, but she remembered them and that goes against what happens with most seizures. There was also some concern that it may be a vessel or brain issue (mini-stroke/tumor) so a Brain MRI and EEG were both ordered, mainly just to rule out the above mentioned diagnoses. The MRI came back clear, but the EEG did not, and we were referred to a Pediatric Neurologist at Children's Hospital for a consultation. Well, that was Tuesday. We have been told that Morgan has a type of Epilepsy called BRE or Benign Rolandic Epilepsy. It is called benign because almost all kids with this type of epilepsy outgrow it and show no lasting effects, but it does cause seizures like the ones Morgan has had and, more frequently, seizures at night. It can cause learning difficulties and behavioral problems that typically disappear when they outgrow the syndrome at around age 15 and so far she hasn't shown any learning difficulty. She has shown big behavioral changes, although I wouldn't say that she's a behavior "problem". She shows all the signs of BRE.....typical onset of symptoms is between the ages of 6-8 (she's 7), the seizure she had at school (now I can call it that) was on just one side of her face and body and she was drooling, just like everything I read says will happen. So, if she were to have any more seizures during the day, they would most likely be like that, or partial seizures. But, the nighttime seizures would most likely be the tonic-clonic or Grand Mal type. As far as we know, she hasn't had any of those, an up until a few days ago she's been sleeping on the floor in our room so we probably would have known if she did. Dr. Hallinan said that she really needs to get more sleep every night as sleep deprivation worsens the condition and makes seizures more likely. So, we're trying to get her on a sleep schedule, which isn't easy since she typically only sleeps 7 hours at night and never takes naps. The doctor really wants her to sleep 8-10. All I can say is we're working on it. Oh, and if that weren't enough.... she's been officially diagnosed with migraines too. So, she's doubly blessed. We now have a medical action plan at school and are keeping a headache diary to see if we can keep them under control without prescription medications. We're holding off on prescription meds for the epilepsy for now as well.... just to see if/how much worse it gets. We'll probably need to put her on something in the future and we've been given information on some meds that are available, but neither her doctor nor we think it's necessary right now. Well, I'm about tapped out...this is giving me a headache and I'm getting bummed just thinking about it all. I'll give updates as they come