I am having a lot of anxiety for my upcoming appointments to get off of this medicine that has COMPLETELY taken over my life- I just kind of want to talk or get some input as to what to expect. My biggest fear is that the addiction specialist / internist is not knowledgeable with this class of drug (barbituates) - but she must, right?!!!!!! Just myself being pessimistic. I know I'm doing the right thing! My health is highly being jeopardized as well as having a LIFE!
I am, and have been on Keppra for almost 5 years. Started at age 23 and I am now 28. At the beginning they made me very sluggish, but after about 2 months I felt wonderful (since it was the first time in my life I wasn't having seizures!!)
I have noticed the following: quick to get angry, short tempered, excessive crying, like to focus on negative conversations rather than the positive, I complain a lot, and I take it out on the ones I love most.
Ask your doctor about Topomax. It's not only used to prevent seizures, but it also is used for treating migraines. It's also used for weight loss. The drawback? It can make you pretty spacey.
I have been treated for tension headaches and migraines since 2009. I was diagnosed with JME when I was 13. I'm currently on 150 topamax and 500 lamictal for seizures. I have tried antimigraines, analgesics, muscle relaxants, nonsteroidal-anti-inflammatory and steroids, ssnri antidepressants and obviously acetaminophen and aspirin for headaches . I have one every single day but the severity of it varies. Within the past few days I have noticed slight shaking and weakness in my hands.
i never got over the headaches and drowsiness but the others went away when my body got used to it.
I took Keppra for 3 weeks & it made me very sick. I should have told my Dr. that I was sick immediately. It has been 3 weeks 3 days since I stopped & I'm still nauseated & having chest pains. My Dr. said I should have stopped immediately. Now I am suppose to take Oxcarbazepine. I'm scared.
Good luck with keppra. I hope yur son tolerates it better than I did.
I have had these problems for 20 some years due to brain damage and keppra has not made it worse or changed anything for me though. I am on a high dose and on other seizure meds. You may want to see about a mood stabilizer for her I know she is young it may or may not work. If it is the med maybe switch meds no one needs to feel that way and I know from experience it's not fun not being yourself and putting others through it.
He had been treated for epilepsy for 3 years without any control, and actually started having gran mal seizures while taking epilectic med Keppra I requested a cardiac work-up due to these gran mals occuring immediatly after exercise. He also had a hx of migraines after exercise, but these had subsided about the time I noticed these Absence seizure like activity. The cardiologist right away said he thought it was NCS, poss with a seizure disorder too.
I now have a VNS (vagus nerve stimulator) implant in my chest that sends electrical shocks to my brain along with 2 anti-seizure meds (sometime 3) and I still have seizures. For the last 2 years I have also had severe migraines that have sometimes last for weeks. I now also have a Neurologist that specializes in Migraines and headache disorders.Having 2 different Neurologist seems pretty redundant to me especially since neither can seem to find the problem.
Also, I wanted to know if anyone has tried Keppra for seizure activity in dogs and if so, how did that work? Our 6 year old French Mastiff had a seizure on Thursday night - first one ever. He walked across our bedroom floor, stood in front of our open door and acted like he saw someone in the hallway. I sat up and said "Archie, there is no-one there. Go back to bed." Then he looked like he was rubbing his shoulder on the clothes hamper and I thought it looked really weird.
I have no health insurance. I was finally got a really basic coverage, but it doesn't cover keppra. i've been taking keppra for a 2 months. I was switched to phenobarbitol for when I run out. since keppra is not on the charity's formulary.
I hope to God that I cant find some source of keppra before I run out. The phenobarb is scary.
So I'm excited about the links here:
http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/index.php
http://www.needymeds.
its been 8 months since my mothers TBI- she had a seizure yesterday-she has been off keppra for 1 1/2 months-the side effects of keppra are aweful-they ask her questions and wonder why she is out of it and doesn't know her last name-(after they gave her keppra in the hospital) what can she take that is less evasive to her health and recovery??
I'm having a few of the same problems. I can take the magnesium, though, because I have IBS-C, so the magnesium helps with that. I'm still having many of the same symtpoms as you are. I would like to be able to offer you more help, but I can't right now, because I'm still looking for the right solution for my silent migraines. I have some that aren't silent migraines, but I mostly have silent migraines. It's a little bit scary, too.
It is used as an adjunct, but can be used as a monotherapy. Valproate is an effective anticonvulsant. It has been used for effective seizure control for a long time now. Keppra does have these side effects you have mentioned.
Lamictal is known to have a serious skin reactions called as Steven Johnson's Syndrome. But all skin reactions do not progress to such a serious level. The skin eruption she had is most probably related to Lamictal.
What are the types of seizures she has?
Then I did the Chiari decompression, the laminectomy and a Occipital Neurectomy on the left and right. For two years I was pretty pain free, then for two more I was starting to get a bad migraine one to two a year, still pretty great.
Then 2008. I started getting daily headaches and one to two bad monthly migraines the first status migrainous was in November 3 weeks. Then starting March 11 I got this one and it has yet to let up.
Continued with Keppra and Di Tan Tang 2X/day each for another 8 days. Then took her Keppra down to 1/day for 2 weeks. Then she went one day with no Keppra and the next day she had a seizure. This seizure was longer, but her disorientation was shorter. Vet then said to go back to giving her Keppra for 30 days and we will re-evaluate. So for the next 30 days she was taking Keppra 1/day and Di Tan Tang 2/day.
I should add that an endoscopy done fairly recently showed mild gastritis and esophagitis.
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