Hi MS
My sister has epilepsy. She started with noticeable petit mal seizures when she was about 10. (When I was going through some of mums records after she died, I discovered some medical documents which indicate my sister suffered from seizures between 12 and 36 months old).
She was put on Epilum and this managed them until she suffered a GM seizure when she was about 14 or so. They had thought she would grow out of it, as is often the case with childhood epilepsy. Her GM was quite scary for everyone, and much more so than the absence seizures. She phased out, made a comment about the pretty lights all around the computer monitor and collapsed. Although she is not now photo-sensitive.
After this, they put her back on the Epilum and played around with dosage until they found the right one.
She was seizure-free until the morning of her 18th birthday when she had a fit while driving her car.

As an adult, she is allowed to drink, drive, see strobe lights, etc. but her fits are brought on by fatigue, physical or extreme mental, stress, excessive alcohol or if she stops taking her medication (which she does periodically when she is being stubborn) - or a combination of all of these. The major factor, as it was when was a child with the petit mal, is tiredness. She functions very poorly when overtired.

By far, her most successful and least stressful periods with the illness have been when she is working closely with her neurologist, taking her medication properly and managing her stress and fatigue levels.

It is just a part of her life and who she is, and for the most part, she works with it and it is a pretty non-influential part of her life when managed properly.

I hope you can get some answers, and a great neurologist who will work with you both and find a successful treatment. I hope he grows out of it too.