Hi everyone!
I am so glad to have found this forum....just reading everyone's questions and responses has been incredibly helpful!
My son (just turned eight) was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy in March, following a prolonged staring episode and an abnormal EEG. Most of his seizures have just involved staring, but some have included mild motor involvement too (e.g. Tongue thrusting, rapid blinking).
The neuro put him on Keppra at the end of April. He worked up to a dose of 375 mg in the morning and 375 mg at night. This seemed to do the trick with seizures, but made him very drowsy...to the point that he was falling asleep at school. The other side effects (e.g moodiness, crying spells) went away after three weeks or so, but he continued to be drowsy. The neuro lowered his morning dose to 250 mg in early June. He did have one short seizure since the change, but that was it. However, he is still tired on the lower dose. He is a very active boy and it hasn't impacted his activities (swimming, baseball, soccer) but it seems like as soon as he sits down, he's nodding off. The neuro didn't give us an answer as to how long it could take him to adjust and not feel drowsy, so I thought I would check with you all and see if you had any experience with this. Is it possible that he will always have this side effect? Or do we just need to give it more time?
Thanks so much!
Angela
I am so glad to have found this forum....just reading everyone's questions and responses has been incredibly helpful!
My son (just turned eight) was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy in March, following a prolonged staring episode and an abnormal EEG. Most of his seizures have just involved staring, but some have included mild motor involvement too (e.g. Tongue thrusting, rapid blinking).
The neuro put him on Keppra at the end of April. He worked up to a dose of 375 mg in the morning and 375 mg at night. This seemed to do the trick with seizures, but made him very drowsy...to the point that he was falling asleep at school. The other side effects (e.g moodiness, crying spells) went away after three weeks or so, but he continued to be drowsy. The neuro lowered his morning dose to 250 mg in early June. He did have one short seizure since the change, but that was it. However, he is still tired on the lower dose. He is a very active boy and it hasn't impacted his activities (swimming, baseball, soccer) but it seems like as soon as he sits down, he's nodding off. The neuro didn't give us an answer as to how long it could take him to adjust and not feel drowsy, so I thought I would check with you all and see if you had any experience with this. Is it possible that he will always have this side effect? Or do we just need to give it more time?
Thanks so much!
Angela
