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Should my son get VNS therapy???
Wed, 09/12/2007 - 19:57Topic: Complementary Therapies
Hi eveyone,
I' a single father of 4 kids and one of my son is handicap due to stroke at is birth. Is actually 9 years old but mentaly is just like a 6 months baby. Whatever is really funny and i love him alot.
Maël ( wich is is name) due to his stroke got epilpsy since is a baby and took so much pills to control it that I start to feel is just like is a Hamster testing it...
At the age of 6, he got a major surgery to disconnect almost completly both side of his brain. For 1 year and a half is epilipsy stoped after the surgery, but unfortunatly it came back and its pretty hard to control.
Now doctors propose the VNS therapy wich seems to be ok considering what i saw through the web.
But i'd like to have feedback from people using it. I know some of you had great exprience or bad experience with this therapy but my mean concern is to know :
1- Is 10 year's old to yougn to get such therapy. Would you do it for your own son ?
2- Is it a big obstacle using the therapy considering the fact that son is mentaly handicap ?
Sorry for my poor english :)
Comments
Re: Should my son get VNS therapy???
Submitted by txrhb1 on Sat, 2007-09-15 - 14:02
I have the VNS and have had it for 2 years. I would do it for my own children at the age you are considering. I don't think there are any obstacles considering the mental handicaps. I would second the thoughts of the previous poster and talk to some other parents though. My experience has been positive. It has cut down the time it takes to come out of a seizure, although it doesn't seem to have reduced the number of seizures I have. I use the magnet if I can get to it when I feel a seizure coming on, and my family all knows how to use the magnet. I think maybe it has been able to stop a simple partial from progressing to a complex partial. At least it gives a feeling of some control, although your son may not gain that feeling. I wish you the best of luck, and if there are any specific questions you have, feel free to ask.
((( hugs ))),
Barbie
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"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can fly only by embracing each other." -lucian de crescenzo
Re: Should my son get VNS therapy???
Submitted by bernardcwe on Thu, 2007-09-27 - 16:11
But i'd like to have feedback from people using it.
You can also find VNS patients at the VNS Message Board
... my mean concern is to know :
1- Is 10 year's old to yougn to get such therapy. Would you do it for your own son ?
2- Is it a big obstacle using the therapy considering the fact that son is mentaly handicap ?
Is your son verbal? Can he communicate when he is in pain? This is important because if the VNS settings are causing pain (ramped up too quickly for instance), it could potentially lead to nerve damage.
Also, FDA didn't approve VNS for children under 12. It's legal for younger children to have it, but Cyberonics will mark down any problems in such children as "user errors".
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Check out my chart of alternative epilepsy treatments.
Re: Should my son get VNS therapy???
Submitted by Herb on Sat, 2007-09-15 - 02:25
Dear André, You might also be interested in reading and posting the same message to the following website: ClubVNS The link to the site is: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ClubVNS/ The site administrator is Mary who is one of many parents sharing information relating to their children and the use of VNS Therapy for Epilepsy. I wish you good luck with Mael and most importantly I wish him wellness. Warmly, Herb VNSdepression.com "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal" - Albert Pike