Keppra and crying.

[Freda]

My daughter has recently developed adult onset epilepsy, she is 35 years old and finding this a tough situation. Obviously she has had to give up her driving licence and has pretty much 'lost her independence' as she puts it. She is taking Keppra once daily 500mg having had her dose increased from the initial 250mgs. It seems to be controlling her seizures but one side effect is she has bouts of uncontrollable crying, some days she can't go to work because of it.
We know this can be a side effect and she's only been taking the medication for six weeks but will she eventually adjust to the Keppra with the crying settling down, has anybody else had this side effect and did it subside eventually?
Thanks for reading - I am in the UK btw.

 

[valeriedl]

It was very hard for me when I was first diagnosed with epilepsy, I felt like I'd lost my independence too. I had to move back home with my parents and not live on my own anymore. I couldn't drive any more so I had to rely on people to take me places all the time.

It took a few years before my family would let me do things by myself too. At first when I took a shower my mom would come into the bathroom and sit while I was in the shower just to make sure I didn't have a seizure and fall out. I believe she even sat outside the bathroom while I was going to the bathroom and talked to me just to make sure I didn't have a seizure while I was sitting on the toilet.

When we went shopping I felt like they should have gotten me a child leash because I wasn't aloud to go more than two steps away from them in case I'd have a seizure and wonder off. If my parents went out and I wasn't going with them I had to go to my grandparents house because they didn't want me to be home alone. I felt like a little kid again.

It took a few years before they started letting me do everything myself. I can remember when I went to the mall with my dad and he told me to go shopping myself and he'd sit in the food court. He said to shop as long as I wanted but he was going to call me every so often on my cell phone just to make sure I was ok. I felt like a big girl again!

I'm probably never going to be able to drive though. Here in Pennsylvania you have to go 6 months without having a seizure and get your neuro's approval before you can and I haven't come close to that. It's hard not being able to drive but I've learned to deal with it.

Keppra is known to cause people to become angry very easy, it's called kepprage. I have this pretty bad, it doesn't take much to set me off and start yelling at people. I'm on a few other meds along with the keppra and at times I'll start crying over sort of stupid things. Things like if a character in a tv show or movie dies. I don't know if it's the keppra or one of the other meds that might be casing this or if it's just me. I do cry very easy if there is something sad going on in my life too or remembering about something sad that has happened.

 

[Freda]

Thank you for your reply, yeah it must be pretty awful living with epilepsy and losing much of your independence. Here in the UK you have to be one year seizure free before you can get your licence back and have approval from your neurologist, you have to send your licence back the the drivers centre until you are fit to drive again.
My daughter still works, she is a secretary at our main hospital and her colleagues are well aware of what to do if she has a seizure. She's had two at work, the last time a consultant was actually taking her pulse when it happened because she was feeling very hot.
Her CT & MRI scans have come back clear and her initial EEG didn't show anything so last week she had a sleep deprived EEG, which has shown a couple of things apparently but it has to be looked at by a consultant neurologist with other opinions before she will know if they found anything significant.
Before taking the Keppra she had a warning pre seizure of dizziness but we don't know if the medication will stop that - hopefully it will stop the seizures too. She hates the crying though and is crying as I type, no reason because it just comes on out of the blue. Price worth paying if it keeps the seizures at bay.

 

[MariaAnnette10]

Thank you for your reply, yeah it must be pretty awful living with epilepsy and losing much of your independence. Here in the UK you have to be one year seizure free before you can get your licence back and have approval from your neurologist, you have to send your licence back the the drivers centre until you are fit to drive again.
My daughter still works, she is a secretary at our main hospital and her colleagues are well aware of what to do if she has a seizure. She's had two at work, the last time a consultant was actually taking her pulse when it happened because she was feeling very hot.
Her CT & MRI scans have come back clear and her initial EEG didn't show anything so last week she had a sleep deprived EEG, which has shown a couple of things apparently but it has to be looked at by a consultant neurologist with other opinions before she will know if they found anything significant.
Before taking the Keppra she had a warning pre seizure of dizziness but we don't know if the medication will stop that - hopefully it will stop the seizures too. She hates the crying though and is crying as I type, no reason because it just comes on out of the blue. Price worth paying if it keeps the seizures at bay.

Hi my name is Maria. I had seizures due to a car door slaming on my right side of my forehead. It hit me on the right and moved my Brain on the left side. I take Kepra and i cant be in large crowds, I panic, I get dizzy and start sweating. I had 3 seizured and its going to be 1 year and i havent had them anymore. I do have side effects and believe me if i dont take my meds I do have symptoms. One of my worst symptoms is dizziness and sweating. They took my license away for 6 months and i didnt get seizures so they gave it back to me. Its nice to be able to write to some one with my same expirience. [emoji4]

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[Freda]

Thank you Maria, it's so good to know that Keppra is working for you and I hope it continues. Well done on getting your licence back too, here in the UK you have to be seizure free for one year before you can drive and my daughters dizzy spells (which she had before taking Keppra) are classed as partial seizures and also extend the period she can't drive.
Today (Sunday) she's had three dizzy spells, such a shame because she hadn't had any for three weeks and now her driving ban starts as a year from today - poor girl is pretty sad about losing her licence but she does get a free bus pass for life and free prescriptions too, not that it makes her condition any better but it's something.
She's on a very low dose - 500mgs morninrg and night but the neurologist said to increase the night dose to 750mgs if she gets any dizzy spells, and tonight she took the higher dose. She knows her dose is very low and expected it to be increased.
Thanks for your response and carry on improving. xx