Breakthrough Seizures

Breakthrough seizures happen, despite medicine. Every so often, something happens that triggers the brain and it overpowers the dose of medicine someone is taking. Hopefully the medicine at least makes it a smaller seizure than it would have been. Alex had a breakthrough seizure last week. We had warning signs, but missed them at first. All weekend, he was cranky and agitated. That I noticed but I hoped he could just get extra sleep and feel better. But, he kept waking up at night, which has always been a sign that his brain was over active. On Monday I took him swimming, which I am realizing is not a good idea when I suspect his brain might be heating up. Something about swimming helps to trigger them. I can't decide if it is the chlorine, but it might be. Chlorine gives me a headache, so I think it might be antagonizing Alex's brain. Alex swam at least twice a day last summer without a single seizure--and he wasn't on drugs yet--until he got strep throat and then he had one. Then on Tuesday morning, he said he saw an orange glow around his dad. Minutes later, he got dizzy and then went through the usual motions of his seizures--vomiting, shaking, eye rolling. We had to give him valium and he slept for several hours. When he woke up, he had a migraine, which also seems to accompany the seizures. By early afternoon, he was finally able to wake up, talk and eat a little bit. He was talking very slowly for a few days, but after about a week, he seems to be back to his old self. We will continue to take it easy this week. We also upped his dose of medicine slightly, because he was on a very low dose, just barely within the therapeutic limits. Although I try to focus on today, and this year, and not get ahead of myself too much and ask myself, for example, who is going to give him rectal valium when he goes to college and has a seizure in his bed at 5am...but I am a huge planner and I usually have several plans in my pocket for every possible life scenario I might find myself in. When Alex had his seizure, Harry Potter knew what was happening. Alex is not particularly attached to Potter because he is Izzy's dog and Izzy won't share. Potter is also a bit rough for Alex who gets knocked over easily. But, he is a hound with a good sniffer and he spent the entire day pacing around Alex's bed whining and growling and trying to tell me that something was very wrong. This was all after the seizure, not before. But it gave me the idea of finding a therapy dog for Alex who would be trained to sense his seizures are coming, so that Alex will be able to take the necessary steps to protect himself. So, I'm hunting for just the right dog and just the right trainer. If anyone has any thoughts on this one, post a comment...I read and appreciate them all!