Vimpat, a new AED, has anybody else tried it

[stilldancing_98]

I , just got put on a new anti-epileptic drug called Vimpat. Its new on the market. I love it. This one is for partials and complex partials. The only one that it has not helped is my myoclonic. It is an add on med. But my head has not felt this clear in years. I'm not allergic to it. And if you want to you can look it up on Vimpat.com. I just wanted to know if anybody else was on it or considering it. Because this is the last one for me. The doc. said its vns if this does not work. So say a little prayer as you read this ok. And I'm sorry I've been gone so long. I love you all. And I had some sweet healing to do. Teresa

[Meetz1064]

know that Belinda, Melpier, and I think Junebug, too have all tried or on Vimpat. You might want to PM them to see what they think. Actually, I think Melpier has a thread going about it....

[Belinda5000]

Vimpat,

I tried going just on pill a day after specialist from UAB upped it to fast and worked great until after vimpat started building up in my system and allergy of increased dose I thought would n't have a problem with lower dose wrong.
I'm now waiting for seizures to return.
Belinda

[Junebug]

I'm going on 3 wks on it and so far it's been great, granted I'm still on my Lamictal, (which I'll be weaning off of this week,) but it's been great.

[epileric]

Has anyone felt any side-effects from Vimpat and if so, which ones?

[Belinda5000]

vimpat was last drug I was going to try after I tried so many and it failed
because was allergic to it.And I've tried brain surgery andhave the VNS.

Belinda

[Aubrey]

Yes. I am ramping up on to it slowly. I am now at 150mg 2x daily as of Friday. I started at 50mg, 2 weeks ago. Next week I will stop with 200mg 2x/day. This is on top of 600mg Lamictal and 300mg Zonegran, a combo which helps with most of the complex partials and almost all of the T/Cs. The Vimpat seriously seems to not help. Both times I increased my dose, within 1-3 days I had a long evening of rolling spells of partials. I would stop and stare, or wander aimlessly, or have something I knew I wanted to say and it wouldn't come out, or open my mouth and all kinds of other words would come out. After about 10 my husband stopped counting both times, and that is really rare for me. I had gotten to the point where I wasn't even having them every day. I am still not, and maybe that this happened both times a couple of days after I increased my Vimpat is just coincidence, but it is really not helping, either. My doctor also started me on weekly mega-doses of vitamin D at the same time, so it could be that as well. I hope it does more for all of you than it is for me. Actually I hope the next increase in my dose does more to help me as well .

[knothing]

I am just getting Vimpat added to my daily 3750mg of Keppra. I would have say so far no side effects but too early to tell if it is working yet.

[libbyl]

you may have read that i had the rash from it,and had to be taken off of it---but it really felt good for the short time I was on it.hope it works well for you.

[stilldancing_98]

It works well for me. I am on many meds with it, and I am still on a low dose. 100 mlg daily. I am sure I will go up this week. First one in years that has worked for me . yippee!!

[Meltdown05]

My son has been on vimpat for a couple months. We are now seeing some strange behavior like loss appetite, vision issues and just not himself. He is also on Dilantin, zonegram, Lamictal,keppra, Lyrica, klonopin. He also has had brian surgery and two vns. Just seems like a dead end road sometimes.

[dfwtexas]

I had discussion with my neurologist this month about vimpat. I am on Keppra but still having a seizure once and again. Also, having some during my sleep. Doc just up my Keppra again, and when I go see him in 6 weeks, he said he would add the vimpat if I needed it. He said he is seeing good results with his other patients on it. I am anxious to try it now that I heard it is helping!

[libbyl]

it seems to be doing well for me,starting slowly.

[Aubrey]

I am sorry about the difficulties you and your son are having, Meltdown. It is probably worse to see this in your child than to have yourself. Could it be the sheer number of drugs? It would be hard to tell at that point what interacted with what.

My doctor brought me down to my starter dose in shortly after I started. I think maybe I went up to fast. I just recently increased my dose to 100/2x day. It has been working pretty well, but last night I started having almost back to back absence seizures. So it is not going to be all that. I can't really measure its effectiveness based on last night. For some of us Christmas evening is exciting, some of us could learn to manage our stress a little better with the goal of helping ourselves to stay conscious. Because the Vimpat has been working most of the time, but not entirely, I might talk about an increase with my doctor, though not right away. I also am still on other meds. I am always sure that the next thing, given enough of a chance, will work eventually, until it proves that it doesn't.

[Meltdown05]

Aubrey,

It is so frustrating because they don't know why he started having seizure and at first though he would out-grow them but now at 17 they are just as strong, if not stronger. Watching him have basically no life is very sad! And worse, I can't do anything about it.

[stilldancing_98]

I have not had a grand mal in 8 months since I started it. But I am still on all my other Meds. I got lucky. For those who it works for it works well. But for those is doesn't be careful. My eyes are blurry. I do have to sleep more. I think because it enhances all my other meds. But I don't have those big siezures durring my period any more. My son's epileptologist sais they are for very special patients. Its a very unique med. I am a success story. I do sleep to much. But my memory is better. Go to Vimpat.Com if you have not.Good luck. Teresa

[appsandsuch]

I just started it a couple of weeks ago, but am starting VERY slowly (25 mg per day the first week, now on 50 mg per day, and will be increasing in 25 mg increments, which is tiny.)

So far so good- no major side effects, though I wouldn't expect to feel any at this dosage. It's possible I've been getting mood swings from it, but I seriously doubt it...I think my frustration has to do more with external sources, though it certainly does feel like a medication-induced rage (and I should know, as I've dealt with that on Keppra and Zonegran before.)

I can't tell whether or not it's helping because I started it during a fairly good streak- no seizures for over a month now, which is nice. At the very least, it's not hurting. I should be able to tell if it's making a difference on my auras once we increase the dose to a normal starting dose. Fingers crossed. I've been extremely sensitive to drug side effects in the last couple of years, so I'm just waiting for the dizziness and nausea.

Good luck to all those on it!
Sarah

[Meisterin]

Hello people,

Have had seizures since i can remember increased by my 20's. Now at more of tonic stage but have had tonic clonic at least once a month. I am in my 40's now. Tried almost every new med. but had allergic reactions until i tried Vimpat. My Dr. also told me last chance since no others have worked.?? Started on low dose 200 per day and although i had swelling in my throat and back pain i still continued since there was no noticable rash and desperate. Increased to 300mg as tonic-clonic phase seemed to advance in frequency. Crazy stuff! Everytime i took my Vimpat i felt clear but my tonic stages became more noticable. usually only had early morn. or evening episodes, accompanied by partial-complex, and abscence seizures during the day. The latter i can handle. i call them my what the hell stages!
During a recent visit to my neurologist. i had a very bad tonic stage in which i thought my neck would snape if the jerking were any more violent. As the Dr. viewed the episode he added 300mg of Dilantin to my evening schedule. I had three days of constant tonic seizures--so sick--then i noticed that everytime i took a Vimpat i had double the seizure activity. The Dilantin seemed to calm them down. oddly enough i had never tried Dilantin before. The 4th day i did not take the Vimpat and relied on Dilantin alone--Viola the tonic stage ceased, and although i could feel the next seizure coming on the Dilantin stopped it. Not as clear as with Vimpat-but at this stage apparently and my dr. agreed because the med. is new on the market not all symptoms are known to Dr.s at this point. it is on a individual basis, followed by similar complaints that they are learning what the full side effect will be. i hope it works for you, but just a heads up if more seizures than normal appear think about the med.

[Aubrey]

I found that too high (200 mg) a dose of Vimpat increased seizure activity for me, but that a very low dose (50 mg/2x daily) it decreased the partials used as an adjunct. Maybe too high a dose? Also I have never heard of it used alone. It's rough having "tried everything", I hear that.

[C0urt]

I have a starter dose of it, but I haven't started it, it is nice to hear you all are doing well on it.

I had three breakthrough grand mal seizures on saturday so it might be a time to give it a try.