COPING WITH THE UNCERTAINTIES OF SEIZURES AND EPILEPSY: COPING WITH LABELS – HOW CAN I TELL FOR SURE?”I don’t believe my child is retarded; I think his problems are due to all those medicines he’s taking. How can I tell for sure?”Parents may prefer to believe that a child’s slowness is a result of the medication, but the effects of medication overdose seldom resemble mental retardation. Children with retardation tend to progress at their own rate, while drug toxicity usually causes a decline in function. Over-medicated children often are sleepy during the day or unsteady; mentally retarded children are neither.The only way to rule out dosage as a cause is to decrease or eliminate one or all of the drugs in use. Do not do this on your own. With your physician’s advice, you may want to consider tapering medication slowly, decreasing a single type of medication at a time. If, on tapering medicine, your child’s function obviously improves, then the slowing, or a portion of the retardation, may have been drug related. You and your physician will have to decide whether the risk of decreasing or changing the medication, as well as the chance of recurring or worsening seizures, is outweighed by the possible benefit of improved intellectual function.Barbiturates like phenobarbital and benzodiazepines like diazepam (Valium), clonazepam (Klonopin), clorazepate (Tranxene), or loraze-pam (Ativan) may cause slowness, dullness, sleepiness, and depression, symptoms that may resemble the characteristics of retardation. Any anticonvulsant, even when in the therapeutic range, may, on occasion, interfere with mental function.*196\208\8*
COPING WITH THE UNCERTAINTIES OF SEIZURES AND EPILEPSY: COPING WITH LABELS – HOW CAN I TELL FOR SURE?
“I don’t believe my child is retarded; I think his problems are due to all those medicines he’s taking. How can I tell for sure?”
Parents may prefer to believe that a child’s slowness is a result of the medication, but the effects of medication overdose seldom resemble mental retardation. Children with retardation tend to progress at their own rate, while drug toxicity usually causes a decline in function. Over-medicated children often are sleepy during the day or unsteady; mentally retarded children are neither.
The only way to rule out dosage as a cause is to decrease or eliminate one or all of the drugs in use. Do not do this on your own. With your physician’s advice, you may want to consider tapering medication slowly, decreasing a single type of medication at a time. If, on tapering medicine, your child’s function obviously improves, then the slowing, or a portion of the retardation, may have been drug related. You and your physician will have to decide whether the risk of decreasing or changing the medication, as well as the chance of recurring or worsening seizures, is outweighed by the possible benefit of improved intellectual function.
Barbiturates like phenobarbital and benzodiazepines like diazepam (Valium), clonazepam (Klonopin), clorazepate (Tranxene), or loraze-pam (Ativan) may cause slowness, dullness, sleepiness, and depression, symptoms that may resemble the characteristics of retardation. Any anticonvulsant, even when in the therapeutic range, may, on occasion, interfere with mental function.
*196\208\8*
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.