Generic Name: Ethosuximide
Brand Name: Zarontin
Zarontin Drug and Medication User Reviews
The pediatric neurologist put my daughter on Zarontin at age 16 when she developed absence seizures. Side effects she experienced were some stomach upset and extra tiredness for several weeks until she got used to it. The tiredness made getting to school a bit of a struggle but they understood. The dose probably wasn’t high enough looking back because she did continue to have some very infrequent absence seizures. She’s been on it been 4 years now. About 6 months ago she experienced 2 grand mal seizures so the dose was increased. Now her seizures seem to be completely controlled. Praying it continues to work. Her new adult neurologist wants to switch her to Lamitical or Kepra which scares me since Zarontin seems to be working, and I’ve read it can be hard to find a med that works.
This Zarontin/Ethosuximide has been effective in controlling Absence Seizures, however the liquid for is made with Red and Yellow Dye. It is totally unacceptable the FDA and the US still allows this in our drugs and foods while other countries ban these dyes. They cause cancer and headaches and a multitude of other problems. This is an anticonvulsant drug and it is ridiculous that it contains any type of dye!
side effects such as mood swings, lost of apetite, lack of energy, hard to follow direction, difficuties to focus, memory loss
My son, 10 yrs. old, was diagnosed with primary generalized epilepsy in September 2012. first med. Depakote, horrible side effects of aggression, sadness...Weaned him from that to try Zarontin 250 mg/ 2x day. So far, last two weeks, have been great! Mood has leveled out, couple minor stomach aches reported and has mentioned trouble sleeping at times...so far, so good. The other drug was a nightmare and this is a blessing (so far). Glad to have my son back!
I had epilieptic seizures from around 5 years old when (in 1958) my Doctor controlled it with a combination of Phenytoin and Phenobarbitol. The outcome of this was that I spent the next 6 years at school in a sedated and confused condition resulting in me being regarded by teachers ar retarded and by the school bullies as an ideal victim. At the age of 11 another Doctor prescribed Zarontin and turned my life around; within a year I was top in Sciences, English, Math and so on. After about 5 years of the new medication I had grown out of the condition and no longer needed treatment. I am now 58 and have worked for a number of the top consultancies in the world as an Electronic Design Engineer - none of this would have been possible without this extraordinary drug Zarontin. Thanks Parke-Davis you gave me my life back.
My daughter who had dignosed with year old Petit Mal Seisures was tanking Zarontin 2 a day , then in 6 month increased dose to 5 a day. in about 1 year we did follow up with 2nd EEG Dr. said that nothing is changed, so he refering her to go to Hospital for a 3 days EEG , and before he prescribes more stronger meds
I was on this medication for treatment of epilepsy in my teen years and it did not help treat my seizures like we were expecting it to.
My 9 1/2 yr old daughter has been taking zarontin for 2 years. She started at 5 ml twice per day. Now she is on 8 ml twice per day. Recently she has been complaining of a gassy upset stomach and has vivid dreams/nightmares and cannot sleep through the night. Her recent EEG's have shown some seizure activity, hence why her medicine has slowly increased. Looks like we will be making an unplanned trip to the neurologist.
My son was diagnosed with petit mal siezures in 4th grade (age 9). Once starting Zarontin he became seizure free. He had little to no side effects. He stayed on it for 4 yaers twice a day without ever having (to our or his knowledge) another siezure again. My wife was religious about his frequency and time of day (same always) for dosing. He completely outgrew the illness and has been siezure and medication free since. He is almost 18 now. It was very beneficial for him.
Has worked well for my 6 yr. daughter however did notice moodswings as dosage was being adjusted up. She did get used to it though and follow up EEG looking better :)
My son is 9 has been on it since July. First dose 250 Mg in the morning & 250 Mg in the evening made a huge difference. But because he was still having a few dr. started to increase. With each increases he has had bad appetite, feeling hot, bad dreams, throwing up, cannot drink dairy anymore. Seizures have come back full force and now 1000 MG per day. We are winging off to a lower dose in hopes that lower is better. Dr. wants to introduce Lamictal but I am deathly afraid. We are fighting with insurance to get to a pediactric neuro. Can anyone tell me if their kids are being treated by a general neurologist or a ped's. Why won’t insurance company automatically just approve this! So frustrated.
My daughter has been on Zarontin since age 4 (she is almost 13 now). It has totally controlled her symptoms. Until recently, side effects were minimal -- very vivid dreaming/imagination, etc. I don't know what other patients with this disorder were told, but we were told this is the type of seizure you outgrow by puberty. My daughter entered puberty about a year ago. Now, the past couple of days, she's had bad headaches and jumpy vision. Not sure what's going on but am calling doctor tomorrow.
This was the WORST med I have ever been on--and I have been on meds for 41 yrs.!! This gave me SEVERE SEVERE Migranes everyday, severe depression,unable to function at work or at home,shaking. Never would I let anyone I know take this. And one of the side effects can be Stevens Johnson disease---if you dont know what that is--please look it up! There is plenty anticonvulsants meds out there to choose from--please dont take this one.
My 6 year old daughter started zarontin, and within 3 days was seizure free. she was on the same dose for 2 years, went off for a while and unfortunately back on a slightly higher does, but again is seizure free. side effect were minimal for 3 weeks.
Very effective for the seizure activity. Daughter 6yrs old when started, now 7 years old. However significant trouble sleeping, hallucinations, and vivid dreaming problems. Common stomach aches too. Will go off of this med due to these problems.
My son has been taking this medication for approx. 4 years now and we have had good success as long as he does not miss any doses. the side effects he experienced such as headach and stomach fade with time.
I have just put my 8 year old on this medication. And I am trying to figure out if other children experience side effects such as stomache, or headache? My daughter has woke up throwing up and I am not sure if it just takes time??? Any advise??
My son was diagnosed with absence seizures at the age of 5. Zarontin is the only medicine he has ever taken and I believe it works wonders. He was testing very low in his kindergarten class before taking the medicine. About 3 weeks after we started the medicine he was in the top 3 of his class. Yes, it is very hard to have to put your children on medicines but, I believe this was the best choice by far. In the beginning he was a little hyper shortly after his dose but, he has adjusted to all the side effects now. Did you know that a child with absence seizures also know as blank stare seizures can have up to 150 seizures a day? Well, I hope this helped someone out there struggling with the difficult decision to medicate their child.
When I was a little I used this pill, and it was the worse decision the doctors could ever prescribe me. It caused numerious of complications and side effects that have created long term effects, especially on my eyes. It affected my eyes to the point that I have to take care of them for the rest of my life.