Next Up: Phenytoin!

Haya's first dose of the new med last night

Very excited to share that Haya will finally try out a new anti epileptic - one that has been found successful in a significant percentage of EIEE11 cases. It's the first med change we're making since her diagnosis with that syndrome three months ago (see "At last - a pretty solid diagnosis")

I loathe giving her three anti-epileptics at once. But as the neurologist emphasized, the cardinal rule is one med change at a time. Once Haya's settled into the therapeutic dose of Phenytoin (also sold as Dilantin and Phenytek), the doctor promises to remove at least one of the others. 

She even asked me whether I thought either of them is effective. I told her I couldn't judge but did remember which was added last, Vimpat (lacosamide), and didn't think it had made a difference. 

The truth is, her other med, Keppra (levetiracetam), isn't anything to write home about either. 

I got the script for Phenytoin yesterday. And the photo above shows Haya getting her very first Phenytoin pill sold here as Epanutin.

When Haya's pediatrician heard that this was the drug selected by the neurologist, he was surprised. "When I was doing my residency, back in prehistoric days", he recalled, "we had only two anti-epileptics to administer: phenobarbitol and phenytoin. There are so many new ones on the market now." 

But those new ones just don't help Haya. Wikipedia says:

Phenytoin was first made in 1908 by the German chemist Heinrich Biltz and found useful for seizures in 1936. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system.

Here's hoping that stellar reputation will prove well deserved!