Hi Kim,
Welcome! I haven't been on here in a while. But, if you are looking for a support group, look no more, you have found the most wonderful people here. They will educated you and let you know just what you need to do. I first came here in Jan 06 seeking help.
I am glad to hear that your son has recovered from his surgery. Boys are a lot different from girls when it comes to moods.
I am the mother of an 18 yr old daughter that has ep. She has had it since she was 14, and is on Lamictal. She too had plenty of mood swings, denial, and some depression. Kids that age don't know how to handle it all. I believe one of the s/e of Keppra is mood swings. You may want to get his meds either adjusted or changed. Mood swings are part of being a teen, but a teen with ep is all together different. They are going through so much at that age, they are trying to fit in with everyone at school, they are trying to find their 'niche' in life. There are so many pressures that go on. Now throw in ep on top of all that and the meds with s/e and there you have so much pent up anger from them having ep, not understanding why they have it, being on meds that cause all kinds of s/e, and a mother that is always checking on them. I was the hovering mother, always checking on my daughter all the time. One day my daughter sat me down and we talked. She let me know that I was 'too much in her business'.

I eventually learned to pull back and not jump and run at every noise. Now the denial part of it, and the 'why me'... I contacted a councelor that had experience with teens/kids with medical problems for her. Cat was not too thrilled about the fact of seeing a councelor, since she said she wasn't crazy.

I knew she wasn't, but she was in need of some real help, help that I couldn't give her myself. I told her to try it for a month, if she wasn't happy with it, then she could stop. I wasn't about to cram therapy down her throat and cause more grief on her, she had it tough as it was. Cat agreed to go for a month, and that month lasted for more than a year. That all happened when she was 15. She got her confidence back, learned to accept her ep, and learn to control some of her mood swings. Now the meds cause some of them, but believe me, the counceling helped her a lot. She still doesn't do 'the support group thing'.

Cat is very pro-active with her ep. Over the past 4 years she has educated many people that have been in her life. I just talked to Cat yesterday, she lives in CA, we have been keeping count of sz free days, she is now at 2 months, longest she has ever gone without a sz. This is a young lady that used to have sz on a weekly basis. She has some excellent drs in CA.
Is your son in counceling? If he is, does that dr work with kids that have medical problems? I found there are different types of therapy for different kinds of things. Who would have known? Since you live in a small town, I'm sure you are limited. Is there a big city near by that you could get to easily? I think the meditation and relaxation technique isn't working because he isn't ready, he is still 'new' to everything happening to him. I'm not trying to give excuses, but it wont work until he is ready for it to work. Treat your son just like you did before all this happened. If you treat him any differently he will know, and will not like it. Believe me, I've been there... Be there for him when he needs you and back away when he doesn't. It's very difficult to do being that you are a loving mother.
I feel for you going through all of this. It is the most difficult thing to go through and you feel entirely helpless because you can't do much at all. Get all the education you can on here, you will find that drs don't know much and you will have to educate them.

If the drs don't do what you think is best for your son, find someone that will. This is why my daughter is in CA, I'm in TX.
running outa room!

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