New to the forum

[angmo]

Hi all
My name is Angie and I am the mother of a 25 year old young man with a rare startle epilepsy. He has seizures every day and also some at night. We live in the Uk.
My son also has physical and mental disabilties.
My son takes Keppra (2000 per day) and Trileptal (600 per day) at the moment. He also was fitted with a Vegal Nerve Stimulator about 4 years ago.

Recently he had to take some antibiotics for a skin condition and went totally off the rails. It was just by chance that I was told that antibiotics interact with certain antiepileptic drugs and can increase the dose of some anti-epileptic drugs by 6 times.

He had a complete personality change and went on from being a placid loveble and pleasant young man into to the opposite. He had to be taken into a secure Hospital because his aggressions were aimed at me. He has been home for several weeks and the toxidity is gone but the aggression is still there.

It is as if I am living with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His personality can change from one minute to the other.

There does not seem to be a lot of knowledge about this interaction in the UK. I would like to know if there are others out there who are experiencing the same problems as I am.

I am aware that Keppra can cause aggression also and will ask the Neurologist (I have an appointment in 2 weeks time) if we can change the medication.
Thanks for any reply in anticipation

Angmo

[angmo]

New to the Forum

[NYC Mom]

Welcome. I'm sorry you are going thru this, is must be really hard. I also just signed up here today. I do not have any advice for you, but I wanted to let you know that I hope things get better for you and your son.

[angmo]

Welcome. I'm sorry you are going thru this, is must be really hard. I also just signed up here today. I do not have any advice for you, but I wanted to let you know that I hope things get better for you and your son.

Thanks for teh wellcome NYC Mom and wellcome to you too.

[angmo]

Welcome. I'm sorry you are going thru this, is must be really hard. I also just signed up here today. I do not have any advice for you, but I wanted to let you know that I hope things get better for you and your son.

Thanks for the wellcome NYC Mom and wellcome to you too.

[lindinig]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Yes, Keppra has been known to cause serious aggression in people. My son was on it for 4 weeks. He didn't seem to experience any side effects until the 4th week, when he went completely psychotic. We took him right off and he's been on depakote ever since.

Many people on here say the vitamin B6 really helps with the agression symptoms.

[Endless]

Welcome, Angmo!

I'm glad you found us here in the CWE forum. There are a lot of really nice, supportive people here with tons of knowlege. It's been extremely helpful to me during my epilepsy "journey."

I'm so sorry you and your son are going through all this.

Keppra can, indeed, cause some pretty extreme reactions. According to this one site Keppra can cause psychiatric symptoms such as aggressive or violent behaviour in 12.7% of people. http://doublecheckmd.com/EffectsDeta...31546&eid=2127

Here are examples from people who changed: http://epilepsyfoundation.ning.com/f...cs/keppra-rage

I'm on Trileptal, and it's made me a short tempered, reactive person. But not violent. Doing a google search on "trileptal" and "Violent" some results popped up, so I'm guessing violent behavior is an issue for some others.

Is your son's doctor taking blood levels of Keppra? Are his blood levels still elevated? Do you know what they were when he was in the hospital? (for sake of comparison) Can you get ahold of that information? I think it is important to show your neurologist.

If it were me, I'd try to get that appointment moved up to before 2 weeks. Your son is experiencing extremely serious side effects that can't wait. Does your neurologist know it was making him violent?

They don't call it "kepprage" for nothing. But most people just have anger outbursts. What your son is experiencing needs to get fixed, pronto.

Hang in there. Things are going to get better soon.

Will you let us know how your son is feeling?

[Nakamova]

Hi Angmo, welcome to CWE.

I'm sorry for what you're going through. I agree with the others, Keppra is problematic. I hope the neurologist will agree and can help you change your son's meds.

[RobinN]

Welcome Angmo -
Something that I would consider is, antibiotics throw off the balance in the GI system.
You might ask your doctor if it is okay to give your son probiotics to keep the good bacteria in the system.

The drugs can cause agression but so can an imbalance in the GI tract, which nourishes the brain

I hope you find that lovable young man again soon.