It pains me to write this post. Many of you know that our daughter Kathryn's AA is in remission. She is doing great and we were having a great summer until last Thursday when my wife called me frantically from the ER and our son Dylan had a seizure. What a punch in the gut!
After several Grand mal seizures in a 24-hour period, the neurologists put him on Dilantin and are suggesting he switches to Tegritol after a month. So now comes the best part . . the number 1 listed major side effect of these drugs? . . . yep . . . Aplastic Anemia. We also asked if they had any idea how he may have gotten epilepsy after all his tests came back negative. Immediately the doctor said it was "idiopathic". I have come to love that word.
Does anyone know of someone who got AA from seizure medication of any kind? We soooo don't want to put him on anything that could trigger AA in our son.
The neurologist seemed to be taken aback by my questioning. Please tell me if my logic is off . . . but if all the experts in the world have NO IDEA how Kathryn acquired AA, then NO ONE can say she didn't get it from some environmental issue (land/home). Therefore, if something environmental "could" has helped trigger her AA, doesn't it make sense that same trigger could cause Dylan to get AA if that trigger still exists? Especially now that he would be on a medication that could cause it?
Bill Chenaille
bchenaille@comcast.net