Keppra Anger?

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kgrace

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Hi everyone,

I just joined this site because I am curious to see who has become angry while on Keppra XR? I have been taking Keppra (and a very small 25mg dose of topamax) for over 11 years, and for the past 6 months or so, I have bouts of anger. I'm not sad or listless...so I know it's not depression. I was reading online that a side effect of Keppra are mood swings and anger. I just wanted to see if anyone else experiences it and if there is anything that helps. I don't want to switch off of Keppra (I don't have a lot of options) and it's kept me seizure free for 8 years.
 
I get them I think?

I have these UPS and DOWNS. I think this is the keppra rage
 
Hi kgrace, welcome to CWE :)

Keppra can very often make you more angry and so do a few other AEDs.

The sudden aggressive outbursts at the slightest trigger, we call 'kepprage' around here lol

It's hard to live with, especially as it turns you into something you're not, and kinda makes us a bit more unlikeable and less likely to get support from the people around us, if you see what I mean :(

It took me years to try and control my kepprage, but even now I still suffer from it in intense situations, or say when I've had a few drinks..
 
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I've been on Keppra now for 13 years, 3000 mgs. and, yes, I get terrible mood swings. I also take 200 mgs of Topomax which is also a mood stabilzer. Plus I take an anti-depressant with all this. And at one time, I was seeing a therapist to help sort all of this out. Nothing wrong with talking to someone 'outside the box' to hear your problems. And if you are suffering with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, depression often times accompanies it.

http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/impact/moods-and-behavior
 
My son is on Keppra also, and is having a very hard time lately with paranoid feelings and anxiety. I sometimes have to give him a 1/2 xanax to relax him. I think he needs some kind of anxiety medicine, but I hate to have a dr. start him on these at 16 years of age. I noticed he has not been taking his vitamin b6 like the dr told him . That seemed to help. The keppra depletes the b6 in your body. Try taking that.
 
I've been on Keppra for a good many years, over 5 I think. I get some pretty bad keprage. If you can name the person, place or thing I've probably yelled at it. Sometimes I've been able to control myself (it's hard) before the words come out but I usually start yelling before I even realize I'm doing it.

I'd ask your dr before taking B6. I tried it on my own and started having seizures like crazy. When I stopped taking it my seizures went back to normal. Most people have no problems taking it. I don't know it was just me who had the negative reaction from it or if it was a combination of all the meds that I'm on had something to do with it too or not.
 
I'm taking trileptal and still trying to understand things...Just in general and I'm very short fused. Zero patience and a rollercoaster of emotions also my short term memory sucks. Had an MRI done and was told I have a DNET tumor near my Amaygdala on the left side. So maybe that's why my memory is shot.. Still trying to get use to this.
 
I'm sure I'm in the rare minority, but I actually like the side effects of Keppra. I'm on 2,000 a day. After being on Topamax for a year, which made me wildly sleepless, anxious, and physically ill, Keppra really enhances my ability to finally sleep. I used to get a lot of anxiety, and now, while I am more irritable at times, I greatly prefer being irritable over being anxious--and I seem like less of a basket case to those close to me as they too find a little irritability better than constant worry :). I don't get RAGE. However I'm definitely on a good solid vitamin and mineral balancing program, involving fairly high dose B complex (among other things)--B6 has been shown to help, but generally B vitamins work in tandem, so they really should be taken together. Niacin is extremely important for mood balancing, and other B vitamins also play important roles working in synergy, so rather than very high doses of B6 alone, (which can cause toxicity if you go too high), a strong B complex supplement might be a better solution.
 
Yes, a lot of people have found Pyridoxine (b6 complex) to help with their keppra side effects- but as valerie said, it can have negative effects too.

I tried it for 9 months- doing monthly tests, and with a friend giving me random placebos lol to see if it really did help me- it wasn't a proper test by any means as my stress triggers were changing throughout the year lol but in the end I found some of the months where I was convinced I was taking it and it was helping me, I was actually taking the placebo..

That's my personal experience though. As I said- some people have found it to help, I didn't, and valerie found it to cause problems.

We're all different, and we all respond differently. Like any med- we take it at our peril..
 
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SlimBlue said:
I tried it for 9 months- doing monthly tests, and with a friend giving me random placebos ... in the end I found some of the months where I was convinced I was taking it and it was helping me, I was actually taking the placebo..
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I'm just wondering if the reason you felt so good even though you were taking placebos is because the half-life for B6 is 25 days (what I could find thru a quick google search, not sure how accurate that is).
If 25 days truly is the half-life for B6 then you would have to take placebos for a few weeks to get rid of what's in your system. Then you will feel B6 deficient even if you just started taking it again until it builds up in a few weeks.
A better test, I would think, would be to have set time periods taking into consideration the ramp up/ramp down phases. Your friend could decide whether to give you the placebo or the vitamin but once they do they should give you enough for the full time frame for whichever they choose (i'm thinking at least 3 months).

Just a thought.
 
Another thing to consider is, B6 isn't the same as B complex--B complex is a combination of B vitamins in the proper balance for maximum synergy of each. I notice for myself taking too much B6 actually makes me feel bad and starts to interfere with sleep, whereas I'm more stable on B complex. For me (just my experience) B complex has been helpful.
 
Dolores said:
A better test, I would think, would be to have set time periods taking into consideration the ramp up/ramp down phases
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That does sound a much better idea- I didn't stop to think of it's half-life.

As I said- it wasn't very scientific by any means lol but I am definitely curious if it can help with the kepprage and other side effects.

As I'm no longer at work, and my life is pretty stable and mostly stress-free, I think it might be a good time to try another test.

I'll see what facts and figures I can find online.

Thanks for that Dolores :)
 
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