I care for my 81 year old grandmother full time and she has advanced dementia. She has 'fits' which I could only describe as a very minor stroke, when she is either constipated or very exhausted from a long day. After these 'fits' she has a resting period where she'll sleep 5-7 hours afterwards, stay awake for 1-2 hours and sleep until the next day. The next day she is fine and its like her system has had a reboot.
Recently she has had a bad seizure which landed her in hospital. The same resting period occurred and when she woke up, the doctors gave her a common anti seizure med. It slowed down her heart rate dangerously low and she ended up staying in the hospital longer than needed. She was discharged with a prescription for epilim/ sodium valproate and shooed out the door. I was left without proper answers to my questions and have relied on my gut instincts in relation to medicating her. She does not speak anymore and obviously cannot communicate what she is feeling and the pain that she could be in.
I think that her condition is changing again as expected but what my main concern is, is that if i give her this sodium valproate, will it worsen her condition? She is not on any medication and personally I would like it to stay this way but has anyone pursued the path of not medicating seizures? Ive already given her 5mL of sodium valproate today and she's gone to sleep 3 hours after it which is not her baseline. Any experiences on similar situations would be greatly appreciated!
The doctors prescribed the med because other control measures were not sufficient or not being done. So choose your weapon, and follow up with a good neurologist monthly.