Gaining weight on Anti-Seizure Meds

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Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has had any problems with gaining or loosing weight while on a Anti-Seizure medication?

I was on Dilantin after I had my first seizure in 2001. Things were fine, but when I wanted to get pregant with my 3rd child, I asked my doctor to put me on something a little safe for pregnancy (#1 was before my seizures and #2 I was on Dilantin).

I was than put on Keppra. I had another healthy baby and I stayed on Keppra. I dealt with the "kepprage" and the increased facial hair on my chin, but the weight gain was getting to me. Until recently when I had a seizure after only missing my meds 1 day. After my MRI and sleep deprived EEG came back normal, I went back to my doctor and I told him I wanted to get off Keppra. He put me back on Dilantin, since it seemed to work good for me, except for the cavities that I was getting (never had before Dilantin). I have only been on Dilantin 2-3 weeks and I have gained 5 lbs. Nothing has changed in my diet and I am still taking Keppra, until I have my blood tested next month to check my Dilantin level.

I am at a loss of what to do, being on the meds is depressing enough, but when I get on the scale, I end up in tears.....
 
I lost weight while on Dilantin and also while on Zonisamide, and gained it on Lamictal. But I seem to have stabilized on the Lamictal now, so I'm hoping to start losing some of what I gained.

Your weight gain on the Dilantin may be temporary. It may be some sort of combo effect of the Keppra and Dilantin together -- keep track of it and if it keeps going up, let your doc know of your concerns.
 
Ive been on Keppra and Carbatrol for 12 years and I had gained weight with the Carbatrol. Since my dr took me off the Carbatrol in March, and tried two medications with the Keppra, I lost weight. Now Im only on Keppra currently, but Ive lost 20lbs since coming off the Carbatrol. I tried the Vimpat and Lamictal and those made me lose my appetite, and since only being on the Keppra its pretty much stayed the same.

I do know that with some medications you can gain or lose weight til your body starts to adjust to being on the medications. Give it time and see how things go. Your body may need some more time to adjust to being on a new medication and if it doesnt get better, contact your dr.
 
I lost a bit of weight when I was on Topamax but being on Keppra doesn't seem to have affected my weight.
 
I gained 10kg on Lamictal then I went on a European Vacation and ate my way from Italy to Budapest which made me gain even more. I haven't been able to lose any of it either. But, I'm not enormously over weight and honestly I'd rather gain a bit of weight than continue to have seizures..
 
weight loss

I am on Keppra, Lamictal and Topamax. Since the increase in Topamax and being put on Keppra about 6 months ago I have lost about 40 pounds. Unfortunately I didn't need to.
 
I'm only on Topamax and just recently increased my dosage and am losing weight like crazy. I have started to get my appetite back but that doesn't seem to be helping just yet.
 
I gained 8 lbs in 6 weeks on depakote i almost went on topomax before my surgery and my Doc said I would loose the wait. Im on Trileptal post op and haven't lost a pound no matter what I try.
 
Yes,i gained weight on depakote,(epillim) as it is called over here,certainly a good few pounds.Ive always been underweight but slightly overweight now which i put down to the medication,was fine on tegratol and epanutin though.
 
When I was Depakote I gained a lot of weight. I am on Keppra and Lamictal now and am also gaining weight. I believe it might be the Keppra causing the weight gain, but I am not sure. On topamax I lost a lot of weight. I didn't have an appetite. When I tried to drink pop it had a metalic taste which was really strange. After that I didn't drink it.

Does anyone know if Keppra vs. Lamictal is more likely to cause you gain weight?

D.
 
Interestingly enough, in clinical trials, the placebo made more people fat than Keppra did. And loss of appetite, it may as well be noted, occurred more with Keppra than with placebo. Another study concluded that Keppra is "weight neutral."

In clinical studies, between 1 and 5 percent of people taking Lamictal for bipolar disorder experienced weight gain, but, weight gain was not reported as a side effect in people taking Lamictal to control seizures. This suggests that lower doses of Lamictal (as are typically prescribed for bipolar) are more likely to cause weight gain. Just to complicate things, clinical studies show that up to 5 percent of people taking the drug to treat partial seizures experienced weight loss.

Unfortunately, none of these are guarantees how either med will affect YOUR weight.
 
I've been on several different meds and dosages so I don't really remember which ones made me do what, but on one mixture of meds all I did was eat, I don't remember how much weight I gained but it was alot.

On another mixture I ate nothing and mostly slept. They actually had to change these ones so I'd start eating again.

I've found that if I do exercise, usually walking a few days a week it would help with the weight gain and kept me down to a pretty good dress size.
 
Depakote put a ton of weight on me. Vimpat isn't helping but it's not as bad as the depakote was.
 
I lost lots the first 6 months on Lamictal before it tapered off. My dr just added in Topamax and unfortunately it hasn't affected my appetite. Be wonderful if it did as I have 20 lbs left to lose, lol.
 
The last reply is encouragaing as I am in the process of being switched to Lamictal from Topamax. I lost 10 lbs or so on the 4 months I was on the Topamax, but I was still having the auras (still nowhere near the amount as before) but had terrible facial twitch side effects, so I am coming off of it, while still remaining on Keppra as well. (Keppra alone never worked but neuro has kept me on it). Being switched to Lamictal which he says at least does not cause weight gain, but glad to hear at least one person reporting a weight loss on it, as I still could stand to lost another 20.
 
I was on Lamictal for two weeks and had weight loss on it. Im now on Keppra XR, 3000mgs daily, and so far no weight gain has occured. I was taken off Carbatrol in March, and since then, Ive lost 20lbs.
 
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