Hello Comrades

[whitemountainhiker]

My name is Phil, and I am brand spanking new to this website.

I was diagnosed with epilepsy back in June of 2000, and I believe it is called "idiopathic generalized epilepsy." I was on depakote for a good 7 years and thanks to weight gain, I changed to topamax. Unfortunately, I had awful side effects with that (my entire face felt like it was tingling constantly). So I slowly weened off that, and now I'm on Keppra XR. I've been seizure free for almost 9 years now, but I feel like crap on this med. I'm always nervous, and have high anxiety....actually right now I'm feeling like that. I'm prob gonna go watch a little tv to calm myself down. I think typing on this forum is also making me feel anxious too, for some reason...

I hate to say it, but I feel like depakote was the best drug for me. It is frustrating.

Anyways, I'll talk more later. I'm glad I found this site, and I hope to "meet" people who share similar issues as I do. Have a great night.

whitemountainhiker

[skillefer]

Hi WMH! Welcome to CWE. Feel free to ask questions, chime in, or just vent when needed. Keppra can cause mood issues and irritability. Other people here on this site that take it often suggest taking a vitamin B6 supplement to kind of even things out.

[whitemountainhiker]

Hi WMH! Welcome to CWE. Feel free to ask questions, chime in, or just vent when needed. Keppra can cause mood issues and irritability. Other people here on this site that take it often suggest taking a vitamin B6 supplement to kind of even things out.

Mmm, yeah I saw that vitamin B6 might help. I was wondering, is taking a multivitamin enough....or should I actually get an extra supplement. I do take one multivitamin per day and it has 100 percent of the daily value of vitamin B6. Actually, all B vitamins....

[epileric]

I was on Keppra & just couldn't take it. As well as the emotions you're getting I couldn't think & felt like a zombie. I"m sure many people here have Keppra stories.

As far as taking B6- There are some effervescent vitamins on the market. I'd prefer them because your body will absorb much more if they are in liquid form. Also remember that your body needs vit. C to absorb the B vitamins (the good B supplements have C included) .

[whitemountainhiker]

I was on Keppra & just couldn't take it. As well as the emotions you're getting I couldn't think & felt like a zombie. I"m sure many people here have Keppra stories.

As far as taking B6- There are some effervescent vitamins on the market. I'd prefer them because your body will absorb much more if they are in liquid form. Also remember that your body needs vit. C to absorb the B vitamins (the good B supplements have C included) .

Yeah..man, last night I was just a ball of nervousness. This morning I'm a bit better, but def not perfect. It would be nice to get a couple days of me not worrying about something. I have a feeling I'll be venting about the meds in other parts of this forum. I suppose I can't complain too much, since I haven't had a big-daddy seizure in 9 years (yeah that's what I call them, to make me laugh).

[dfwtexas]

Hi, welcome...this is a great group!
I am on Keppra and neurologist switched me to Keppra XR earlier this year. I really loved it but had to go back to Keppra because I was losing hair by the handfuls on the XR. Doc didn't think it was the XR but after test and process of elimanation, it was the only thing we could figure was causing the hair loss.
Check with your neurologist before you change anything, including adding vitamins or supplements. I asked my neurologist about B6, he said a multivitamin has plenty of b6 and there are evidence that too much B6 does permanent neurological damage.
Keppra has been very helpful with my simple and complex partials.
Jennifer

[RobinN]

My daughter takes a B Vitamin Complex with mineral co-factors (zinc, manganese, chromium) which helps optimal B vitamin metabolism, and promotes healthy mitochondrial function, glucose regulation, and adrenal response.

However, if the intestinal lining is damaged due to poor nutrition, none of this will be properly absorbed.