Re: Cerebral Palsy and Myoclonic Jerks

Posted By Zeyad Janahi on July 16, 1999 at 09:34:50
I am a father of a two year old boy who is suffering from cerebral palsy.  Since we knew about his problems, we have been looking for ways and means of helping him.  We are in touch with the bobath centre for children with cerebral palsy in the UK and we are following their approch to rehabitate him.  The question is : Is there another more effective apprroch than the bobath approch?
The other problem of my son is that he is suffering from myoclonic jerks.  He jerks almost always after wakeing up from sleep.  He is now under medication usig depakine (Sodium valporate ) and Sabril (vigabatrin).  However, his jerks did not improve considerably.  Is there any other suggestion to help his situation?  What are the effects of using sabril, espicially on visual aspects, for children under 10 years old?  Is there any other ways I can improve things?
Thanks

[CCF Neuro[P] MD RPS]

Posted By CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS on July 16, 1999 at 12:36:10
Dear Zeyad:
What was the etiology of your son's cerebral palsy?  The type of rehab depends on the etiology in some ways.  Most all CP children need early intervention with physical therapy and occupational therapy to help with muscle functioning at both the gross and fine motor skills level.  Some types of CP have normal to high intelligence so if your son falls into this category then cognitive intervention is not a worry.  However, we find that many CP children need cognitive intervention of language.
What is the etiology of your son's myoclonic seizures?  Are they correlated with the EEG?  Both medications are effective for myoclonic jerks if they are related to the EEG.  If not, then the control is difficult.  Any medication has side effects.  One of the major ones of vigabatrin is funnel vision, or the concentric peripheral vision loss.  However, not every child or adult has this side effect.  It may be difficult to notice if your child has this side effect as he is very young.  There is some thoughts that this side effect is reversible in most cases.
I hope that this helps.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro MD










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Cerebral Palsy and Myoclonic Jerks C.J. (Journalist) 7/17/1999
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Re: Cerebral Palsy and Myoclonic Jerks CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS 7/17/1999
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