Keppra - Will things improve?

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My neurologist told me that the more Keppra helps someones seizures, the less likely they are to have the bad side-effects though that's not a rule.
 
Hi - I've been taking Keppra for almost 2 years now (switched from Lamotrigine), and there were some MAJOR complications/side effects for the first several months but I know now that it was just because of the med transition more than anything. In my case, I was having physical side effects like nausea & muscle spasms rather than moodiness/depression. This lasted for about 3 months (on and off).

Ever since then, Keppra has really been wonderful for me. I feel as normal as ever and seizure-free for 10 months now. Of course, medication is different for everyone so you will probably have to wait and see for yourself.

Good luck!
 
New to Keppra

I had my 4th GM (ever) Monday - was put on Lamictal 9 years ago after 2nd - and now Keppra's been added. Can't tell how it's going yet, been sick for a week (cold) so don't know if it's making me tired or anything since I feel crappy anyway. I have over 80K on a Harley, and am hoping I get enough confidence back after this to get back on it (after my 3 months is up - at least I hope that's all I have to wait). Don't know how much is hormones (I'm 51) or what the trigger is exactly. I'm glad to hear so many have done well when adding Keppra to the regiment. I hope I can say the same in a few months.
 
Added to lamotrigine

I just had Keppra added to my lamotrigine regiment. I had one grand mal in 2002, put on Lamical, was good until October 2009 a couple of months after they moved me to generic (Torrent brand lamotrigine) after which they increased me from 300/day to 600 per day, level went to 12, had another at the end of January 2011, a year and a half after the Halloween one, and the test showed my level had dropped to 6 (last tested in July as 12). So they've upped me to 750/day and are moving me up to two Keppra (not sure of dose, think it's 2000). So first thing is I'm moving from the Torrent brand to the Teva brand as everything I've read here indicates that is much closer to the actual Lamictal, even though I'm going to have to move out of Kaiser for that which will really up the cost - but I have to feel confident. My husband thinks just having the keppra will be enough to cover me, but I don't know what to think since they just keep adding to my meds. I've had 4 seizures total in 25 years so it's hard to know. Anyone have any experience with something like this?
 
Blue Cat, did you change your birth control at all? It sounds like a similar situation to mine - everything was fine for years then suddenly it stopped working and they switched me. Turns out in my case it was because I went from mirena IUD to BCP. All of that estrogen caused my lamictal levels to plummet. Great to know in hindsight that I didn't have to go through any of this >.<

Update wise, the pit of despair has gone. I'm no longer having my head filled with awful visions of nasty things. Which is very very good :p I have put that down to the lamictal withdrawl. It was nasty. Awful. Something I never want to have to go through again. Ironically, lamictal always made me feel great so I'd been toying with the idea of maybe adding a small amount of lamictal would boost me enough to get me back to "normal" on keppra. A bit scared to go that route though.

As for keppra - it's turned me into a bit of a supplement junkie, searching for something (anything) that will stop me feeling so "I don't care" and angry. Overall I feel better than I used to, the short temperedness is still there in a big way though. It's something I'd like to try to get rid of, I have kids and it really isn't fair to them to have their mother yelling at them for the tiniest infractions.
 
Thanks Maddie - no, nothing to do with birth control, I'm in my 50's and I know that's not an issue. Although I've asked about the big M affecting things and they all say there's no research on that. Kaiser did change their answer and I can get Teva lamotrigine from them so I'm hoping that, plus the keppra, keeps me from having any more s'z.

I'm glad you're doing better. Stay well
 
from what I've been seeing there's quite a lot of research on menopause and seizures. Take a look in the library section, I have a feeling there's something in there. Either way, good luck with your meds :)
 
BlueCat,

My doc says the same thing about M causing E. (How's that for code?!) He says there is "no evidence." Well, there is plenty of evidence about catamenial epilepsy, caused by hormonal fluctuations. So it makes sense that M might have something to do with it. I'm skeptical M could cause it, but it sure could influence seizure timing and frequency.

http://professionals.epilepsy.com/page/hormones_catamenial.html
 
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