keppra issues getting worse even after dose change

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Penny

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My neuron wants me to call him back after 2 weeks on the dose change no matter how I feel. I went from 1000mgs daily to 500mgs daily. You would think things were getting better but they keep getting worse. I have not only been irritable and depressed still but I have had 3 major outburst verbally, loudly and cussing at them in the last week. This is NOT me. I am usually quite easy to get along with. I hate confrontation and especially yelling. After these confrontations I have felt like cutting myself like I used to a while back because it releases endorphens to make you feel better. I did this in my early 20's until several years back when I was diagnosed bipolar and put on meds. Now those feelings are starting again. :paperbag:
Have any of you had rage that feels that bad (besides cutting)? I cant stand this. I think I am going to insist on being off it. :(
 
The worst part is it has been helping my seizures yet this is happening.
 
Any chance it is not the Keppra at all, and one of the other meds you are on? A lot of medications that affect the brain can have side effects appear months after being on them, and of course any dose change can amplify those side effects.
 
I have only been on keppra 6 weeks. It started about 2 weeks after going on it but has gotten worse and worse even after a dose reduction. The other meds I have been on a while. Trileptal (for E), Lamictal (started out for bipolar years ago and upped dosage for E last May), Lithium for (BP), Xanax as need (hardly ever take). So other than the trileptal (started May2013 ) and now keppra, I have been on others for several years. Everything was going OK until keppra. I just want a life again. :(
 
Penny, don't you think the Keppra has set your moods off? If so, you'll need some help to get them back on track. Taking the Keppra dose down isn't going to do that.
 
Just to add, have you ever had a mixed episode before? What you're experiencing now could be that.
 
sorry, just started this med yesterday feeling like i got hit by a truck
 
kirsten said:
Just to add, have you ever had a mixed episode before? What you're experiencing now could be that.
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Yes, I have had them. I'm Bipolar 1 so I get the High, Highs and the low, lows. I am feeling even worse than that. Im feeling bad enough that the staff are watching me close where I live. When I feel really bad like 2 nights ago when I had the confrontation with another man that lives down the hall, My councelor came to see me as well as taking Xanax. I was shaking all over I was in such a rage. This is not me even when in a mixed state I don't respond this badly. I'd like to just stop it tonight but I don't want the seizures either. I will be talking to him first thing Monday.
I was just wondering if this was as bad as it gets or just me.
 
horsehead said:
sorry, just started this med yesterday feeling like i got hit by a truck
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Already huh! I hope it doesn't last long. It might just be the initial stage of getting used to it. Hoping it is!
 
I had irritability on Keppra but not rage. I'm generally weirdly immune to anger, so it makes sense. After I stopped taking it, it did take a month or so for that irritability to go away. Still, if your symptoms are so severe, is there really a good reason to carry on without treatment? Does the Xanax help?
 
Penny said:
I was just wondering if this was as bad as it gets or just me.
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One of the well-known side effects of Keppra is "Kepprage", so IMO, it sounds like it is Keppra that is causing these episodes. You know your body better than anyone, so since you're the one who has noticed the difference ever since you started taking it, then insist that you want off the med ASAP. I've had to do that a few times.
 
I read abbout "Kepprage" all the time on this forum so it could be that.

I also know that I only lasted a few days on Keppra because of how it altered my mood. For me it was lethargy and depression but I'm always told that depression and rage are flip sides of the same coin.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think it would be worth it to try and titrate down and get off it to at least see if it this stops. Make you sure you do this under the careful care of you doctors and not on your own.
 
kirsten said:
I had irritability on Keppra but not rage. I'm generally weirdly immune to anger, so it makes sense. After I stopped taking it, it did take a month or so for that irritability to go away. Still, if your symptoms are so severe, is there really a good reason to carry on without treatment? Does the Xanax help?
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The Xanax is actually prescribed for anxiety by my pdoc. That's why I only take it occasionally. My anxiety had gotten so much better that in the last 4 months I had only taken it 3 times until last nights upset. I took one that night and early next morning. I am normally not an angry person but I have had those few instances this week and a lot of horrible irratibity lately.
 
giveasmile said:
I read abbout "Kepprage" all the time on this forum so it could be that.

I also know that I only lasted a few days on Keppra because of how it altered my mood. For me it was lethargy and depression but I'm always told that depression and rage are flip sides of the same coin.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think it would be worth it to try and titrate down and get off it to at least see if it this stops. Make you sure you do this under the careful care of you doctors and not on your own.
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I will definitely do it with my dr.. The last time I dint I had a major aura, complex partial and TC all in arrow and wound up in the hospital a couple days!

Thanks everyone! :)
 
yea i think its just my body going what the heck. lol. hopefully you feel better soon.
 
My doctor explained to me that some people just can't take Keppra and if I had these symptoms to call him immediately and we would try something else. I just started the medicine this week I'm extremely nervous.
 
Hi, and welcome!
I do understand the feelings of being nervous because of having to start taking medication, but don't be nervous just because it is Keppra! Everyone responds to medications in a very individual way, and like absolutely anything we are far more likely to hear about negatives of something than we are the positives. I was on 1500 mg of Keppra at one point, with no side effects at all.
 
Keppra gives me a short fuse. I deal with it one of two ways... If I feel like yelling or something, I don't. I just remember it's the Keppra, and try not to say anything. Or... If I get caught off guard and I do yell, I try to stop myself immediately and apologize. I am on a low dose. If it's just driving you nuts however, maybe its not for you. Give it a month or two before deciding.

I'm not sure about this last part, but I understand that Xanax can make some people difficult. I know someone who was taking it. While they were on it they were not fun to be around. Mostly it was that they couldn't see things from other people's perspectives, everything was someone else's fault, and they didn't mind saying so. I don't know if this might be affecting you somehow, but the combination of Keppra and Xanax might be a problem.
 
Matthew 74

Never had a problem with Xanax and I have been using it as needed for years. ONLY as needed. It mellows me out when in the midst of anxiety or a panic attack. As far as with keppra, never had a problem taking both at the same time. I live at a place where a lot of people I know use Xanax as needed (independent living for those with mental illness). Never heard of anyone having problems like you are talking about with it.

"Mostly it was that they couldn't see things from other people's perspectives", Hmmmm
 
The neuron has upped my trileptal from 1200mgs daily to 1500mgs daily and is taking me off keppra over the next week. I will still be on Lamictal at 600mgs per day. When I called him today and we talked about meds I asked if he could just up the trileptal since I have been on it so many months now. When I had problems with it before was when the dr I had in another town went straight from 900mgs to 2400 mgs per day. I ended up in the hospital because of that. I do well on it now since I have been with my new neuro and we have taken it so slow on it. I know it has helped a lot too. So hopefully this will work and then I will only be on 2 meds instead of 3. Its suppose to be better to not be on so many is what he told me if possible. We will see! :)
 
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