Sudden issues again?!?!

[difenbaker]

Well long story short, did fine working two jobs (50+ hours a week) been down to one job now for about 5 weeks. My generic keppra has been switched twice since the middle of March. This last switch was per the pharmacist as I was having a buttload of side effects out of no where. Been on this generic now for 2 weeks, side effects subsided and feeling somewhat normal again. Nothing worse then not realizing you were foggy between the ears than by no longer being foggy.

All of a sudden now I'm having what I'm guessing are break through seizures. Nocturnals which needless to say is throwing everything else out of whack. To top it off I'm thinking they might be catamenial as well (due to start in the am). I have not had an issue with catamenial seizures since November.

Just confused as to why all of a sudden I'm "exploding" again. Does anyone out there have an idea or have you been here? Heck... Someone want to tell me that I'm not nuts would be welcome too.

Thanks gang
Lisa

Ps. My simple partials and auras have been running amuck as well. Don't know if that's related.

 

[valeriedl]

Is there something that might be stressing you out? Are you not making as much money working only one job now? Not having as much money and worring that things won't get paid? I know that alot of my seizures are caused by stressed.

 

[momof3boys]

Ive always taken brand name Keppra XR. This was brought up last year in may 2011 when I was put back on Keppra XR after my VEEG in march of 2011. They did say they would let me try the generic Keppra XR, but also sat down with me to go over the risks involved. Knowing that it may bring on changes and make my seizures worse, I decided to stick with the brand name. I was taken off of Carbatrol ER and Keppra XR for the VEEG, and put back on Keppra XR afterwords. I had some seizures afterwords til my level of Keppra XR was back to normal again. But again, I had to get use to only being on one seizure medication and not two. Anything like lack of sleep or stress can cause my seizures to come about more easily now. But maybe the change in keppra... going to generic is causing these changes to occur? Have you brought there up to your doctor?

 

[Wobblez]

Hhmmm...so hard to say but I guess it could be the change in meds. What about your hormones? Thyroid? Iron levels? Might be worth a check up with the GP on these.

 

[Nakamova]

The recent switch to generic makes that seem a pretty likely culprit. The fact that your side effects are lessened suggests that there is less medication in your system too -- hence poorer seizure control. Generics can sometimes have less active ingredient in them. The generic Keppra might be cycling through your system faster, leaving you more vulnerable on and off throughout the day.

There's a chance that your system is still adjusting to the generic Keppra, but if things don't improve over the next few weeks, you might want to ask your doc about raising the dose a tiny bit, with the idea of getting better seizure control w/o the side effects.

 

[difenbaker]

Ok so I didn't switch to the generic, I changed generics... From global to mylan and now to lupin. I've never been on the name brand keppra (just can't spell it). I know with generics they can be different amounts of the active ingredient. The pharmacist wonders (as do my mother and myself) if referencely I went from 750mg to 600mg to now 900mg. The generics are allowed to vary up to 20% (80%-120%). My hair is back to not falling out again at all and my migraines are just about completely stopped again (was getting severe 36-72 hour ones again). But down side I'm not really eating again. It's a weird trade off.

Val - stress isn't money related. If anything work has me more stressed as they are adding more responsibilities to my duties.

Kristin - as usual we run almost parallel. Lack of sleep is a huge offender for me. My mom has called me late to work because I didn't get six hours of sleep. (at least my bosses are cool with it). I wonder now if it is just getting back to a steady level and I'll feel ok again.

Wob - supposedly every hormone test I've had done comes back within normal limits. My thyroid gets checked every 3 months with my cholesterol. Thyroid problems run in my family so our (yes our, I see the same family practice dr as my parents (who are in their 60s) and we will soon be switching my 2 year old over to him as well - nice perk of seeing a rural medicine dr) family dr keeps an eye on a lot with me as far as what runs in the family.

Nak - as weird as this may sound my migraines are directly proportional to my nocturnal seizures. The more nocturnals or the more severe they are the worse or more frequent my migraines are (took lots of charting and lots of messages for the neuro). So unless I get a migraine late at night (7pm or later) it was from the night befores messed up sleep. Do you know if there is something I can take to complement the keppra as far as the simple partials that I get?

As usual thanks guys!!!!! You are all the bestest ever!!!!

 

[Nakamova]

Any chance you could try the modified atkins diet to see if it helps (rather than throw another med into the mix)?

 

[difenbaker]

Any chance you could try the modified atkins diet to see if it helps (rather than throw another med into the mix)?

Unfortunately, that's out. My cholesterol was almost 300 and I'm under 30. I have diet limitations that conflict with the idea behind the Atkins-type diets. Granted I do cheat (a lot) but with meds to lower my cholesterol and some major diet changes I'm only down to 157 which is still considered too high for my age and build. :/ so I'm sure the don't eat the fat diet for the cholesterol is probably not helping the "I should be eating fat" diet for my brain.

I'm sorry but I'm one of those weird people too that for a snack I would totally rather have fruits, veggies or granola.

 

[Nakamova]

Got it. What about trying a magnesium supplement (assuming there are no counter-indications healthwise)? It helps some folks with migraines and other seizure symptoms.