Blood sugar?

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julie wishes

julie wishes

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:pop: I've been on generic Keppra for about three weeks. I started by taking 500mg at night for a week and a half then added the 500 mg am dose. Been on that for about 5 days. I noticed severe blood sugar drops on the pm only dosing schedule. One minute okay, the next so hungry and weak I could barely ask for food. As soon as I ate I felt immediately better. This happened several times a day. And during the day. Not at night. On the am/pm schedule this has faded somewhat, but has happened about three times over the past 5 days. Its a little scary how quickly my sugar levels dump and how incapacitated I feel. Almost wonder if it isn't some type of siezure itself??? But I can eat and it disappears??? Assuming it was the inconsistent Keppra levels, but since it still is here on the am/pm, just wondering if there is something more to it.
 
The best way to combat that, in my experience, is to eat a lot of slow-digesting foods and complex-carbs. Along with keeping fiber and protein high in my diet.

I ran into this problem when I started Keppra as well, and was hypoglycemic before it happened.

I start my day off with a bowl of oatmeal and a banana. Oatmeal is a complex carb which helps stabilize blood suger. Bananas are extremely healthy, and are slow to metabolise so they also help control blood suger. I try to eat something small every two to two and half hours. Make it like a miniature complete meal. So... a salad with some tuna/chicken and a glass of juice. (Veggies, fruit, protein source with some fats.) Just make it on a small plate, not a dinner plate. :)

If you drink soda, try and stop or cut back. Diet isn't really an option, because artificial sweeteners are major seizure triggers for most people. Try to stick with juice, water, home-made lemonade so you can control how much suger is in it... Stuff like that. Tea is also good, especially green tea and oolong tea because it's loaded with anti-oxidants.

Diet control is the best answer to that problem, and a little consistency with diet can go a long way. :)
 
I actually do all the above. I only drink water all day. The only change was that the three meals a day weren't nearly enough. I had to switch to every two hours like you said. And stick to the complex carb/protien mix. It was happening with eating three decent meals a day. So now eating every two hours is working unless something stressful happens and its like my brain eats up every speck of sugar I have. lol Good to know I'm not the only one. Will keep up the meals. Just was wondering if it were anything more to worry about as far as side effects (like will Keppra give me diabetes next... lol) or if it wasn't a weird seizure I haven't read about yet.
 
You know it pisses me off that the FDA can make something like aspartame legal. I've had to warn pregnant moms to stay away from it because it can cause birth deffects. Now here I'm hearing about it again as a freaking trigger.... can I just say grrrr!!!!! to the FDA. I don't trust those guys. Or girls.
 
Hmm... that will occasionally happen to me as well, as far as the sudden drop because of stress. I've dealt with it by keeping a bottle of home-made lemonade with me when I'm going about doing stuff. If I'm at home, it's not such a big deal, but I don't leave home without it. :) A swig of that and my blood suger will go up enough for me to grab something to eat.

As far as the FDA goes... yeah I'm pretty skeptical of them.
Marijuana as a treatment for cancer... proven effective in Israel and Sweden. Banned.
Chemotherapy and radiation treatments which can cause cancer. Totally approved.
Just saying :)
 
julie wishes said:
You know it pisses me off that the FDA can make something like aspartame legal. I've had to warn pregnant moms to stay away from it because it can cause birth deffects. Now here I'm hearing about it again as a freaking trigger.... can I just say grrrr!!!!! to the FDA. I don't trust those guys. Or girls.
Click to expand...

I've seen lots of claims about aspartame but I've not found any studies or proof other than anecdotes.

ACSH Debunks Internet Health Hoax

Even in Europe where there is no connection to the FDA they have done studies to confirm the safety of aspartame.

Scientific Committee of Food
 
I think aspartame may be safe for the vast majority of folks, but because it is the same as an amino acid that excites the brain (aspartic acid), it can be a trigger for folks with a lowered seizure threshold. Same goes for MSG, which is the same as glutamic acid, another excitatory neurotransmitter.
 
Some people have claimed as much but no test or studies have been able to show any such effects
Aspartate

Aspartic acid (aspartate) is one of the most common amino acids in the typical diet but nevertheless has been implicated as a possible source for neurotoxic effects of aspartame. As with methanol and phenylalanine, intake of aspartic acid from aspartame is less than would be expected from other dietary sources. At the 90th percentile of intake, aspartame provides only between 1% and 2% of the daily intake of aspartic acid. There has been some speculation that aspartame, in conjunction with other amino acids like glutamate, may lead to excitotoxicity, inflicting damage on brain and nerve cells. However, clinical studies have shown no signs of neurotoxic effects,[8] and studies of metabolism suggests it is not possible to ingest enough aspartic acid and glutamate through food and drink to levels that would be expected to be toxic.[57]
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy
 
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oh yeah still struggle I have been on keppra now for 4 years I am now on 1500 mgs 2x daily have not had dramatic sugar highs and lows though....do notice when i need to eat though just know when i need to eat.... man do i need to eat. have to keep to to a fairly regular eating/snacking schedule. When I do not I really feel it. When they added the toppamax though I started losing weight pretty rapidly (I lost about 40 lbs in a year).So my advice is keep some snacks on you and keep to a regular eating/snacking pattern.

Tina
 
julie wishes said:
Just was wondering if it were anything more to worry about as far as side effects (like will Keppra give me diabetes next... lol) or if it wasn't a weird seizure I haven't read about yet.
Click to expand...

Keppra can also cause rage= KEPPRAGE, depression, anxiety.

I take 3000 mgs. of Keppra a day and also have Type 1 diabetes, so have to do insulin injections 5 times a day. And my diabetes was brought on by a drug...... not Keppra, though. I was suffering from depression and had tried numerous anti-depressants. Nothing seemed to help, so the shrink said I was bi-polar and put me on Zyprexa and within a month I started losing my vision and weight. I got my vision back, but the diabetes is here to stay.

Some anti-psychotics can/do cause diabetes and some AED's can cause depression for some. But they are also used as mood stabilizers. Different drugs work differently for everyone.

My endocrinologist and I work together in keeping my glucose levels within range. He does think that the Keppra influences it some.
 
tinathesingergirl said:
oh yeah still struggle I have been on keppra now for 4 years I am now on 1500 mgs 2x daily have not had dramatic sugar highs and lows though....do notice when i need to eat though just know when i need to eat.... man do i need to eat. have to keep to to a fairly regular eating/snacking schedule. When I do not I really feel it.

Tina
Click to expand...

Thats it in a nutshell. Exactly how it feels.
 
Thank you guys. Good to know its not just me. I have a tendency towards medication side effects that no one has ever heard of. Good to know this one is okay and easily fixed.
 
I have found though that with me being on a specific generic I am on the generic MYLAN brand the side effects are lessend for me so I make sure before I leave the pharmacy that the pharamacist/chemist has that brand filled for me I have side effects otherwise. I have tried other generics this one works the best for me. Glenmark is another brand that I have tried but the Mylan tends to work best for me. So both AED's I have I try to have both filled by the same manufacturer if I can.

tina
 
Regarding aspartame -- there are studies that show a neurotoxic effect:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1474447/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17684524
The study concluding that aspartame was safe was conducted by scientists affiliated with the company that makes Nutrasweet/Aspartame -- so take it with a grain of salt (or sugar as the case may be... :))

I do think that aspartame is safe for the vast majority of people who consume it. But like MSG, it's worth looking at as a migraine or seizure trigger if it plays a large role in your diet.
 
*nods*

Aspartame is definately a trigger for me. Have to watch those labels carefully - 6000 products with aspartame in them, some unlabeled.

I'm also on Keppra, and I stagger my meals. Breakfast folllowed by a small snack a couple hours later. Part of lunch at lunchtime, the other part around 3pm....and so on.

I also notice a difference from generic brand to generic brand with Keppra. The current generic I'm on makes me much more tired and sleepy than the last one.......zzzzzzzzzzz....
 
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