Had to drive into Fort Worth today for a 3 month check up with the neurologist. Good thing too because Devon has had five siezures since July 28. He had one last night. I began to wonder if maybe the Depakote was bad or something but the doctor assured me that it was most likely Devon’s body had just become accustomed to it, or that he had grown enough to need a higher dosage.

As it turned out, we changed medicine today because of Devon’s ‘tics’. At first we were just going to increase the dosage of his anti-seizure medicine, but I thought to ask about those ‘tics’ because we are working on them so hard during OT (occupational therapy).

As it turns out, the tics have a name: Myoclunus with Action.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/myoclonus/detail_myoclonus.htm

The medicine he was given should help with the seizures and reduce those jerky movements. The doctor said that this medicine has very little side effects, fewer even than the Depakote. However, the one side-effect it may have, although rare, is that it will modify his behavior.

“Oh really?”, I asked, “How so?”.
“It will make him into a bad kid.”, he said.
“Bad kid?!”, I gulped.
“Yeah, think ‘belligerent drunk’”, the doctor chuckled.

Oh boy.

Luckily it’s rare, and if he starts acting like that, we can go back to the Depakote!