I got a feeling the Vimpat is not going to work for me

[momof3boys]

Its been five days now since I decreased my dosage to 50mgs twice a day of Vimpat and Im still feeling the terriable mood swings. I cant sleep at night, last night I didnt get to fall asleep til after 1am, and this morning Im up at 7am, taking the kids to school and then coming home to what I thought was going to be a good morning.... but then the mood changes kick in and Im crying my eyes out and feeling like I dont want to live again.

I just dont think this is ever going to end! The past couple of days were ok, but not as bad as this morning. I will try to hang on til Monday and see how this goes. But my gut is telling me its not looking good.....

 

[Nakamova]

Well now you know. Cross Vimpat off the list. Sigh.

 

[momof3boys]

Well now you know. Cross Vimpat off the list. Sigh.

Yeah, Ive been telling myself It might get better with decreasing the dose, but so far today has been a nightmare from hell with these emotions Im having. I dont know what they are going to put me on now.... I pray to god its not back to Carbatrol.

 

[Loopy Lou]

I'm in exactly the same place as you. My docs don't know what to do with me now.

See, Keppra didn't bother me tooooo badly, but i wonder if adding Vimpat has a cumulative effect with regards to the mood swings and such?

 

[momof3boys]

I no clue, all I know is that the Vimpat is just hell when it comes to mood swings! I dont know what my dr will do if he has to take me off the Vimpat! I know he doesnt want me back on the Carbatrol because Ive been on that for over 10 years and he didnt want me to have bad side effects with my bone marrow, and such.

Plus Ive lost weight just getting off the Carbotral. I dont know... Im going to see what comes about til sunday. if nothing changes, I have to get in touch again with the dr and see what they say to do next.

 

[Loopy Lou]

Have you had any problems with weight gain on either Vimpat or Keppra? I just want to EAT all the time and i can't figure out what it is lol. Lamictal was awful but at least it caused me to LOSE appetite haha.

 

[momof3boys]

Have you had any problems with weight gain on either Vimpat or Keppra? I just want to EAT all the time and i can't figure out what it is lol. Lamictal was awful but at least it caused me to LOSE appetite haha.

No, I havnt had any problem with Keppra or Vimpat so far. I was put on Keppra and Carbotral around the same time... close to 11 years ago. those two combined controlled my seizures pretty good. But after being on the Carbotral for so long, my dr worried about the side effects it could cause with my bone marrow. So, after I was taken off Cold Turkey from the Carbotral, I saw I started losing weight. I didnt change my diet or exersize, so I knew it had to do with the change in medications.

With the Vimpat, my drs nurse said to make sure I ate something when i took it. I never had to eat anything in the mornings or nights with the Keppra & Carbotral. So that was something I had to get use to doing. With kids in the morning, I am so use to getting them up and ready and then getting myself ready. So Ive had to eat alittle something in the morning and night to make sure the Vimpat doesnt upset my stomach.

 

[Loopy Lou]

Ooh, nobody told me you're supposed to eat something with Vimpat Mind you i never had any problems with nausea etc.

 

[momof3boys]

Ooh, nobody told me you're supposed to eat something with Vimpat Mind you i never had any problems with nausea etc.

I didnt know either til the Nurse called me and said the dr has decided to try me on the Vimpat. She said she heard of alot of people complaining about upset stomaches after taking Vimpat with no food. So she recommended I take it with food. So, I just ate a few crackers or something small when I took it.

 

[Day]

Give the Vimpat a fair run. I just started around the end of December 2010. I didn't think it would work either, in fact I almost refused it altogether. I have grand mal seizures, and was having multiple seizures a day(now down to 1-3 a week). I'm so glad, SO glad I didn't refuse this one. It's actually working! I noticed it working within the first 1-2 days.
There are some side effects, such as constipation, occasional dizziness, heartburn, yeast problems, and only 1-3 times a week can I go to sleep before 2am. But these are such minor problems compared to the ones I was having before.
If it hadn't started working so fast, I may have stopped taking it, and would never have seen these benefits. I've never in my life taken something that worked so well.

 

[Loopy Lou]

Thats great Day, i'm glad it's working for you. Alas not everything works for everyone but i'm sure we'll get there in the end

Welcome to the site btw!

 

[momof3boys]

My biggest problem with the Vimpat is the mood changes.

Im having crying spells, angry irritable outbursts, and here lately Ive been feeling depressed and feeling like I just dont care what happens anymore. I have three little boys and the last thing I want to do is be that way around them, or my husband! Just feeling this way makes me cry to think about it. If I wasnt having the mood problems and feeling so down, I would still be on the 100mgs twice a day.

 

[momof3boys]

Well, today wasnt the greatest day either. I finally gave up and called the drs office. I left a message with the nurse. Im hoping she gets back to me today. Today Im on edge with everything. The "bad thoughts" have been more frequent today too. I am at home with our youngest and Im so irritable Im afraid to be around him, I dont want to get mad and upset him.

 

[SevenC]

I hope it's not too late for me to bump this thread but it came up in a google search for vimpat, then I got distracted by something else you posted and had to ask.

I saw you mention (maybe in another thread) that you have PCOS. I also have PCOS. My pcos is making my seizures worse. (The last 2 weeks of the BC pill pack I have terrible seizures) and my seizures didn't even start until I was diagnosed with PCOS.

Both health conditions came on around the same time, in 2007.

Anway, I had a terrible seizure a few weeks ago, passed out completely for several minutes, no one could wake me up, hit my head very hard and spent a day in the ER. They put me on 2000 mg daily of depakote.

I read that depakote is like THE worst seizure medicine for a woman with PCOS to be taking, it increases male hormes and makes the weight gain even worse.

So we're weaning me off the depakote and putting me on the vimpat.

But I'm already on metformin, yasmin, and spironolactone in addition to all this seizure mess. I'm so frustrated! I don't want to be on all this medicine.

Who have you found to treat both of your health conditions? My neurologist has NO clue about hormones and my obgyn has NO clue about seizures. Since the seizures are being triggered by my hormones, this is making for so much fun.

and I can't drive right now which is driving me crazy getting rides to and from work---I know I'm preaching to the choir and you guys and gals are all feeling it too.

Any input on this (vimpat or having both the condtions) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[momof3boys]

I hope it's not too late for me to bump this thread but it came up in a google search for vimpat, then I got distracted by something else you posted and had to ask.

I saw you mention (maybe in another thread) that you have PCOS. I also have PCOS. My pcos is making my seizures worse. (The last 2 weeks of the BC pill pack I have terrible seizures) and my seizures didn't even start until I was diagnosed with PCOS.

Both health conditions came on around the same time, in 2007.

Anway, I had a terrible seizure a few weeks ago, passed out completely for several minutes, no one could wake me up, hit my head very hard and spent a day in the ER. They put me on 2000 mg daily of depakote.

I read that depakote is like THE worst seizure medicine for a woman with PCOS to be taking, it increases male hormes and makes the weight gain even worse.

So we're weaning me off the depakote and putting me on the vimpat.

But I'm already on metformin, yasmin, and spironolactone in addition to all this seizure mess. I'm so frustrated! I don't want to be on all this medicine.

Who have you found to treat both of your health conditions? My neurologist has NO clue about hormones and my obgyn has NO clue about seizures. Since the seizures are being triggered by my hormones, this is making for so much fun.

and I can't drive right now which is driving me crazy getting rides to and from work---I know I'm preaching to the choir and you guys and gals are all feeling it too.

Any input on this (vimpat or having both the condtions) would be greatly appreciated.

I was dx'd with PCOS when I was around 18 yrs old. I had my first period at the age of 14, but went for up to 18 months with no period. I went to Omaha Nebraska, we had just moved to Lincoln, Ne at the time and we found a reproductive specialist, her name is Dr. Victoria Maclin. She is a wonderful Dr! Ive been going to her for 11 years now. I just saw her last week for my yearly appointment I have with her each year. She specializes in womens health and she was the dr that dx'd me with PCOS. Ive been taking Glucophage XR for the past 11 years now. Its helped alot with the weight gain, and controlling my other symptoms. I am no longer on the Vimpat. I began that March 23rd and by April 15th I was off. I had terriable side effects! The mood changes got me the worst. I went from being normal to having really bad thoughts, anger and crying outbursts and not even caring any longer. Today I have started taking Lamictal. I am taking that along with the Keppra XR. My Neurologist I am seeing is named Dr. Deepak Madhavan.

Below I included their names and links to their offices if youre interested.

Dr. Deepak Madhavan (Epilepsy Dr)
http://www.unmc.edu/neurologicalsciences/index.cfm?L2_ID=20&L1_ID=2&CONREF=64

Dr. Victoria Maclin (PCOS Dr)
http://www.heartlandfertility.com/html/about.html

 

[SevenC]

I'm down in Louisiana, so I wouldn't be able to come that far :-( , but I'm considering trying to find a fertility specialist too. I read good things about Lamictal and PCOS. I hope that works out for you. Are you able to take birth control with that or does it cancel it out? I'll let you know how the vimpat works for me. I just had to get off the depakote, that was piling weight on me even with the gym and eating my low gi diet I'm already on for the pcos.

 

[momof3boys]

I'm down in Louisiana, so I wouldn't be able to come that far :-( , but I'm considering trying to find a fertility specialist too. I read good things about Lamictal and PCOS. I hope that works out for you. Are you able to take birth control with that or does it cancel it out? I'll let you know how the vimpat works for me. I just had to get off the depakote, that was piling weight on me even with the gym and eating my low gi diet I'm already on for the pcos.

I was on the Birth control pill since the age of 18 through 22. Thats when I found out I was pregnant! I was on the birth control pill at the time, with the Keppra XR, Carbatrol and Glucophage XR. Little did we know at the time that being on the birth control pill with the seizure medications, the seizure medications actually didnt make the pill have the full effect with preventing me from getting pregnant. At that time, i was engaged to me married the following year and I was told years before that I probably never could have kids of my own because drs thought since I never was having a regular period, I probably wasnt ovulating on my own either. But being on the pill for the 4 years along with the glucophage, made my cycles regular and I just happened to get pregnant on my own.

My husband and I have three little boys, and in February 2007 he had a vasectomy, so I havnt used any form of birth control since then. I dont know how the birth control would work with the Lamictal. I could google it and see what I find for you.

I really havnt looked into the Lamictal with PCOS. Ive been googling the side effects, but havnt looked into the two of them together. I'll do alittle searching now on them.

 

[Nakamova]

Lamictal and birth control are tricky, mostly because the lamictal messes with hormones and makes the bc less effective. I'm on Lamictal and I have an IUD instead.