CLONAZEPAM

Clonazepam...this is one of the four seizure medications that Emmalin is on at this time. Out of the four, this is the one that Emmalin has been on the longest. From the time that we started going to St. Louis to see Dr. Weisenberg, (Em's epilepsy specialist-who we LOVE), she has said that she only wanted Emmalin on 2 medications or less at a time (she was then on 4). This is also what Jarrad and I would prefer. So we have been trying to take Emmalin off some of these, but for one reason or another, Emmalin has managed to stay on 4 seizure medications. We have tried to get her off of her Clonazepam 3 other times so far. This is one that Emmalin's body REALLY likes (her body is addicted to it). Every time we get down so far, Emmalin starts having more seizures, and that is how her body has withdrawals (poor baby). So we end up putting her back on the original dose and go on. Well, this is attempt #4. Our game plan this time, is to reintroduce Topamax, which she has been on before and her body responds pretty well to (at least so far) and when she starts having withdrawals, increase the Topamax so that we can continue the decrease of Clonazepam. Once Emmalin's body had the opportunity to get familiar (again) with the Topamax then we started taking away the Clonazepam. We only take her Clonazepam down 1/2 a tablet every 2 weeks, so this is going to take a while (to say the least). We are also hoping that Emmalin's body won't have as many withdrawals because we are taking it so slow. We are now down from 5 pills a day to 3 pills a day. We have had to increase the Topamax as expected (and she's now on a pretty high dose of it) and Emmalin is still having some withdrawals, but we are making it through it. So far, Emmalin has been having some jerk and head drop seizures, some days more than others, and her larger (or as I call them her "big seizures”) seizures range from 1 to 4 a day (but mainly around 2). I realize that this amount of seizures in a day is not amazing, but believe me, it could be A LOT worse! I am keeping a very close eye on it and adjusting Emmalin's Topamax (under Dr. Weisenberg's supervision) accordingly. Next week we are supposed to bring it down another 1/2 a pill. I just hope and pray that things continue to go as smoothly as they have been throughout this process!

I'll keep you posted!