Uncontrollable appetite - eating till I might explode

[tle822]

I've been on tegretol 400mg for a month now and it has made my appetite literally uncontrollable. It is insatiable. I have never experienced anything like this in my entire life.

I was diagnosed 1 month ago with temporal lobe epilepsy and was told one hippocampus was smaller than the other. I am currently in the process of switching to Keppra 1000mg as I slowly come off Tegretol.

Has anyone experienced this?

I hope to God Keppra fixes this. I would rather no appetite at all than this inability to be satisfied. It's running my life at the moment. It may sound silly but I really cannot describe the way my brain is making me react, it's absolutely horrible. Also I particularly crave cereal. I mean I would overeat on anything if it were there but cereal is what my brain mainly screams for - breakfast lunch and dinner.

Any experiences with Tegretol, Keppra and hunger ?

 

[Nakamova]

Rapid weight gain is definitely a Tegretol side effect, so changing meds should help, and the craving should go away.

Keppra is considered a "weight-neutral" drug* -- i.e., it's not known to affect weight either way. A few people have reported weight loss once going on it. Either way, your experience should be better in regard to appetite. If you don't already, keep a diary while transitioning and afterwards. A diary can help track potential side effects, in addition to monitoring seizure control and identifying seizure triggers.

Hope you feel better soon.

 

[mylo]

valproate made me kind of hungry, not to your extent though.

not sure how it works with keppra, but if that doesn't work, i heard topiramate is an appetite suppressant. according to wiki they started using it in combination with phentermine as a weight loss drug.

 

[masterjen]

I am on the same combination of medications. What worked for me: Try breaking your meals up into mini-meals or snacks so you are eating 5 or 6 times each day rather than just the breakfast, lunch and dinner you mention. Figure out based on your weight and activity level how many calories you should be eating in a day (you can ask that question in google and many sites will pop up), and then plan what you will eat that day based on this. Planning ahead of time what you will eat makes it easier to stick to a meal plan than when you decide at the last minute what to eat. If you crave cereal, allow yourself to eat it! Just make sure you are eating a balanced diet and not overshooting your daily calorie quota. Ensure your cereal choices are high fiber as well as low sugar and low fat.

 

[tle822]

I recently lost about 12kg by tracking my food/calories/exercise and I also do break up my meals. Unfortunately this has not helped, nor has continuing tracking.

I know there's a lot of advice on these things like what you just gave but I already do those things.

I've never experienced this kind of mental insatiability in my life. It's not just your typical 'stressed-out binge eat' king of appetite or depressive type eating...I can't describe it. It's like my brain is starving even though physically my stomach is filled with food and I can even see that it's full but that doesn't stop the chemicals (?) or whatever that are telling me I MUST eat.

Hopefully Keppra helps, I can't wait till I'm done with Tegretol. Only 3 more weeks, hopefully I don't undo all the hard work I have done over these past months losing weight.