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Most children grow out of absence seizures.

About 9 in 10 children who get absence seizures grow out of them by the time they are 12.¹ But a few children continue to have them as adults.^{1 2}

About 1 in 10 children start to get generalized tonic clonic seizures as they get older.¹ These seizures make you fall and pass out. Children who get this type of seizure stop having absence seizures. And they have the other type of seizure only rarely. To learn more, see our articles on Epilepsy.

Drug treatments for absence seizures work well.^{1 2 3} And most children do not need to take epilepsy medications for the rest of their life. If your child stops having seizures after taking an epilepsy medication for a while, your doctor might stop the treatment gradually to see if the seizures come back.^{2 3}

About one-third of children with childhood absence epilepsy have a problem with learning or behavior. This might be because they don't know what's going on while they have absence seizures. Or it might be because their epilepsy medication makes them drowsy or slows down their thinking.²

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment. ©BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2008. All rights reserved.