dosage?

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pdubau

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Would anyone consider increasing their Keppra dosage, 1000mg, by 500 mg? Without doctors approval? Might this matter? Thanks for reading.
 
I take Keppra XR 3000mg a day along with Tegretol XR 600mg. I think its a better idea to ask the doctor. NEVER change anything without talking about it to your neuro. Adding just one pill of 500mg can multiply the dose or amount in the blood by quite a bit. It can be dangerous if the dr. wants you to be on a specific amount of meds based on your weight. Meds are prescribed for the medical condition but also they have to consider your age, weight and how much medication needs to be in your blood for the specific seizure type or condition.

If you think the medication is not working well - they ask the dr. if increasing it will help or not.

What mg are you on of Keppra now?
Are you on XR or regular?
Do you take generic or brand name keppra?

Please take care,
Crystal
 
I agree with Crystal. Don't ever change your dosage without your doctors advice.
 
I changed or decreased my Tegretol XR and had a bad seizure three days later. My neurologist asked me if I knew why I had three days until the seizure happened. I told her I had no idea. She said "It takes three days to get Tegretol XR out of your system."
She got real mad at me for changing my meds on my own- and told me that I can have a Grand-Mal seizure at any time and that I should never mess with me meds.
To me though- I thought I was doing well and didnt need so much Tegretol.
Just reducing my Tegretol XR by one pill can lead to seizures several days later.

Take care-
 
Agree with rest...call your doctor. I started at 500 mg and now have had it increased a couple of times and now up to 1000 mg twice a day. I know my doctor does blood test to check my meds level whenever he makes a change. There's a chance he might be upping again as after 5 months no seizures (:woot:) I had two seizures in one night. I recently met a lady with seizures that developed later in life and was on Keppra too. (I told her about our site too) and she told me she went thru several changes in first three years but now they finally have it right. I think as frustrating it is for us, treating us can also be a trial and error process that might require dosage changes or even a change to a different med.
A side note is if you use insurance, you will also get yourself into hot water if you run out of pills and it is too early based on doctor's dosage on the prescription.
 
Again, jgb

brings up a good point. My insurance plan only allows you to refill a scrip 3 days before it runs out, so if you take too many pills ahead of time, you're SOL.
 
Thank you very much. I really appresiate the advice and thoughs. I am currently taking 1000mg of generic Keppra daily. This is the regular.
 
I used to take 2000 mg of Keppra everyday, but would NEVER change it on my own.
 
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