Anyone tried Vimpat?

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Sabbo said:
My dose of 400mg/day along w/ 400mg/day of Topamax (generic--thanks to insurance) doesn't do much difference, either. I still average 1-3 Complex Partials monthly, same with my Simple Partials. I've even had seizures within hours taking meds!!
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That's not good, hope you find something that works.

That reminds me though. Vimpat is for partial-onset seizures, which I don't understand. The 5 day EMU stay results showed I have primary generalized seizures (as have previous EEGs). I don't understand why I was prescribed Vimpat for the seizure type that I have. Same thing goes for the Keppra. Maybe I'm missing something here but it seems I might not be on the right medications. On another note, I'm going to switch back to generics. I just don't have the money to be paying a premium for brand name drugs right now. The generics worked just fine as I had no improvement in seizure activity when I switch to the brand name.

If I go for a VNS, I'm going to push my doctor about it. I've met my deductible for the year so I'd prefer to do it sooner rather than later. I've read up on this a bit and I'm not concerned about the risk factor. Worst case in my view is that it doesn't work and I'm back to square one.
 
If I go for a VNS, I'm going to push my doctor about it. I've met my deductible for the year so I'd prefer to do it sooner rather than later. I've read up on this a bit and I'm not concerned about the risk factor. Worst case in my view is that it doesn't work and I'm back to square one.
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If a VNS doesn't work there can be lingering issues. See http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/my-vns-experience-22263/ for Arnie's saga with the VNS.
 
Thanks for the link, I actually stumble upon it myself. I didn't read the whole thread but it seems I missed something so I'll go through it again.
 
Since last night, my son is only on Vimpat (150 mg twice a day- total of 300 mg). Is one of the side effects metabolic acidosis? He just got weaned off of Zonegran which caused metabolic acidosis.

Thanks,
 
I really wouldn't bother with researching side effects. Everyone reacts differently to these drugs and one can suffer side effects out of the realm of what is known. I would wait it out and see what happens. That said, is it possible that the acidosis was caused by the withdrawal of the medication or did it persist while on the zonegran?

In other news, my epileptologist put me at 400mg/day of Vimpat. I have yet to really notice any side effects (or reductions in seizures). My next appointment with the edoc is next Tuesday, which is a 2 week follow up since the dose increase. He mentioned depakote, so this past Monday I told my psychiatrist to take me off the lamictal completely and now will be taking Depakote instead. This probably will cause my epileptologist some grief but I don't have the depakote yet anyway (mail order pharmacy). I'll check with the edoc first about it, but at the end of the day I make the decisions here ;) I suspect the depakote won't help anyway since I've been on it before. He hasn't mentioned the VNS the past few visits like he was. I think my case is pretty clear that my epilepsy is refractory. The keppra and lamictal speak to that (not even mentioning the vimpat). Gonna be chasing drugs for a while here I suspect. Not my idea of fun.
 
The acidosis persisted on Zonegran regardless of dosage (the last leg was weaning him off of 50 mg). I know it'll take about 2 weeks for the Zonegran to be eliminated completely to begin to notice any new side effects.

I'm interested in what others have experienced as side effects, 'coz my son can't tell us and I need to watch out for behaviors.
 
It might be better if you started a new thread about this. You will get more exposure from the other members. :)
 
I'm now up to 200mg of Vimpat in the evenings and got rid of my small dose of evening Lamotrigine. I still take my 150mg dose of Lamotrigine in the morning along with 100mg of Vimpat. Another week of this and then completely of the Lamotrigine and 200mgs of Vimpat morning and evening. The only thing I have noticed so far are small headaches randomly coming in and out. Waiting to see what happens in just over a week when I drop the 150mg of Lamotrigine.
 
Thanks gnault. I would love to hear what you experience with just Vimpat.
 
I was on Vimpat along with my Keppra for a few months. No side effects from the Vimpat for me. A small change to my insurance and the price for it got out of hand. Couldn't afford to keep taking it.

Prescription copay is all I'd worry about.
 
I'm on 400mg of Vimpat and 200mg of Lamictal. The Vimpat worked for a few years for me pretty well, but some seizures crept in, so the doctor added some Lamictal. I don't get side effects from the Vimpat, though with the combo-meds I have a constantly fuzzy memory and some tiredness. The price of the Vimpat is its worst side effect lol! It's costing me 200 euros a month, not including my Lamictal on top.

I agree with the others who've said that the side effects really vary per person.
 
So just an update. My dose of vimpat is now 400mg a day. At my request, my psychiatrist is weaning me off the lamictal and I'm starting depakote. My edoc mentioned this so I took the chance and did my own thing. My edoc seems very erratic lately trying me on all these different drugs. At first he kept mentioning the VNS but he stopped saying that and now I'm on a med cocktail. I'm coming off the lamictal because the higher dose seemed to be causing more seizures. I know the depakote won't help because I've been down that road before at a much younger age.

My edoc mentioned weaning me off Kepra, which I'm very nervous about. I was put on Keppra last summer and so far I've not had any full blown tonic clonic seizures.

Anyway, I'm starting to have some weird side effects which I'm sure are related to the vimpat and possibly an interaction with the lamictal or keppra. Basically for about 20-30 minutes I can't see straight and my eyes want to roll back up into my head. My sense of balance is off (because of the Lamictal probably, even at the "low" dose I'm on now). Oh, and my tremors are just rediculous sometimes. I had tremors before I was on any medication; that's how I got started on propranolol. It's just awful. Never really had side effects until now.

Gonna have to put my foot down a bit with these doctors. One tugs this way while the other pulls that way. Getting a bit anxious too; it's going to take forever to get all of this right and I still don't have a job yet. Lots of money and time wasted, IMO, and it'll all start over again if I wind up moving. :mad:
 
Today is my last day on Lamotrigine (150mg a day) and will move to 200mg of Vimpat twice a day. I have had a few light headed moments, what feels like a palpitation and a few what feels like jabs of pain from my chest / rib cage area. I asked my wife on a Friday evening what heart palpitations feel like as it is a side effect. She said "you stupid idiot (paraphrase)! Why are you waiting until Friday evening when the doctor's office is closed to ask that". Interested to see how getting rid of my full dose of Lamotrigine to full dose of Vimpat will feel. Hopefully no issues.
 
Sorry to hear that, gnault. I think that was very insensitive of your wife. Quite condescending. No offense.

I finally got my depakote (generic) in the mail so I'll take my first dose tonight and see what happens over the next few weeks.
 
My wife is on about 10 or 12 medications and high stress due to a mental health needs kid and her own illness. I've learned to accept many of her comments as loving advice. We've also come to accept that with my epilepsy (neuropsychological assessment) mythought processes are not the most logical.

Completely done with lamotrigine and fully on vimpat alone now.



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So I've been on vimpat for five months with topamax to control partial seizures with the odd tonic clonic. Built from 100mg-400mg over a month. Been a bit of a roller coaster looking back over my notes although I don't remember much of this period. Started with a lot of energy which quickly disappeared, emotional outbursts set in (not different for me on meds but apparently a bit more severe) which would quickly go from positive to negative. Tired one minute, manic the next, depressed again the next. In a big way. Seizures spiralled at first, had no memory at all of them (also strange for me) - had big black out periods, dreams started getting very strange and was dreaming of seizures even as noted. Memory, emotions and wakefulness/tiredness most effected.. eyes feel like they could fall out of my head even if I'd slept 12 hours. after two months seizures we're controlled for two months although side effects remained mainly the tiredness, emotional crap and memory.. got a job last month and after one week the seizures are back baby. All partial and tonic clonic out of nowhere. Have seen a lot of people have the same effects so am gonna get off this shit before I kill myself
 
Resaebiunne,

As far as my limited knowledge goes - Vimpat works the same way as Lamictal. My son had severe abdominal pains, insomnia and an increase in seizures with Lamictal. Now he's on 150 mg X 2 of Vimpat and 50 mg of Zonegran and notice that now he's having seizures every 3 weeks. So this is our conclusion based on just one case study (our son) - If Lamictal did not work to control seizures, most likely Vimpat will not.

Hang in there,
Suman
 
I'm not sure if it's the depakote or the vimpat but my seizure activity is way down compared to what it used to be. The hospital stay 2 weeks ago they further lowered my dose of lamictal to 100mg/day. I'd like to be completely off the lamictal. I think it would also be good to ramp off the vimpat as well. Basically any drug that doesn't have a generic form I'd like to be off of.

Anyway, I never predicted that the Depakote would work so well (unless it's the vimpat?).

The doctors at the hospital basically said that I was non-compliant with my medication. I don't understand that given that I was supposed to be titrating up my medication. Side effects continue to beat me up every now and then, so I don't see the point of rushing through just to make myself appear to be compliant. What a bunch of monkies!
 
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