About Gavin and his seizures!

This was the message I sent my family, it explains most of everything.

I know I didn't contact everyone about Gavin's diagnosis. Sorry!I'll share a couple links giving info though.He has Benign Rolandic Epilepsy (BRE) He'll out grow it around puberty. Hisseizures happen in his sleep and do not cause him any major harm. The worsewe'll see is maybe some speech and/or reading problems.He has been stuttering the past few months, it could be developmental or itcould be the seizures. I spoke with the speech therapist at his school and theyare monitoring all Kindergarteners this year. She said she'll keep a note ofGavin's epilepsy and talk to his teacher about how it affects his day.The type of seizures that we have seen (body stiff and shaking, eyes rolled up,etc.) are called tonic-clonic formally known as grand mal seizures. (petite malseizures are no movements, also called absence seizures) These are the seizureshe will be having so we don't have to be on the lookout for any other type ofweird actions from him and wondering if it was a seizure.We were offered medication. The neurologist said some parents like to have itfor a peace of mind. It has to be taken twice a day reguarly. Even with the medshe can still have seizures (i'm sure we all know this since Doug is on antiseizure meds and he'll still experience a seizure now and then) The meds alsohave their own side effects. From what I've read, they can change a child'swhole personality. We decided the effects and the demand (you can not miss apill) from the meds were worse then the seizures. Our neuro told us if we everwanted them to just call her. She did prescribe us Ativan -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ativan - to use if we decide to travel longdistance again. It will make him sleep and not seize. It is basically an antianxiety med that relaxes the nervous system. It scares me. We all hear storiesabout people taking sleeping meds/anti anxiety meds and they don't wake up. Butshe told us to use it and travel at night so he'll sleep. Or she suggested wecould travel a little bit at a time and to stay overnight somewhere on longtrips.His seizures are triggered by being very exhausted. The neuro said the car ridesreally have nothing to do with it, he was just very tired each time.We still have diazepam- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valium - to use if he has aseizure lasting more than 3 minutes (we were told by an ER doctor to use itafter he was seizing for 10 min. but the neuro said 3). We inject it rectallyand it stops the seizure. We hope to never use it.Epilepsy is hereditary. Neither Joel or I have anyone in our families withepilepsy (except Doug but his epilepsy is different), that we know of. Gavincould just gotten it out of no where or it could have came from someone. Wedon't know. If it was passed down then I think there is a chance Teagan couldget it as well (I need to talk to the Neuro about this though) and I believeGavin could pass it to his children. Just keep an eye on your kids just in caseit is hereditary and from our side of the family.My biggest concern is if he has a seizure and he stops breathing. This is aconcern with any type of seizure.But we've been working hard on getting a good bedtime routine in place. We startbed time at around 7-7:30 and they are finally asleep around 8-8:30. He wakes at6:45.Ok, if any of you have questions let me know. I'll do my best to answer what Ican.Here are two websites:http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/epilepsy_benignrolandichttp://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/benign.html