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Dear Janet et all: I read the epilepsy article with interest because my sister has had epilepsy since she was 12 years old. At that time she suffered a gran mal seizure, was taken to the hospital where tests revealed the diagnosis. She had (apparently) suffered from petit mal seizures long before this, but at the time -when she was about 5 years old (in 1957)- we were living in a small town in Arkansas and very little was known about epilepsy. She has been on Dilantin for many years and does quite well, no seizures unless she forgets her meds. In 1978, my middle son suffered a gran mal seizure at age 8 for no apparent reason. A neurologist put him on low dose phenabarbitrol for 1 year, to phase off of it gradually over another year if he remained seizure free, which he did. We were told by the doctors that it is now known that many children, if treated with medication at a young age, can outgrow epilepsy and have no further trouble as adults. (I am not talking about children with severe epilepsy, suffering numerous seizures even while on medication.) My son, now 27, has never had any more problems. I think this might have been the case with my sister had she been treated as a 5 year old. Anyway, I asked my neurologist and 2 other doctors if they thought there might be any link between my sister's epilepsy and my young-onset pd and all said "no". However, I think it is strange that no one in our family (on either side) was ever known to have epilepsy or pd. Rosemary Russell, 49, 3 ([log in to unmask])