Keppra side effect question

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

skyfire322

skyfire322

Stalwart
Messages
335
Reaction score
2
Points
68
It's been about five or six days since I started, and it seems like the psychological side effects are in full swing (mainly mood swings, and anxiety). I'm a lot more "fidgety" (constantly scratching my head, pacing back and forth, etc.) and I'm beginning to get OCD tendencies.

For example, tonight I cleaned all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. My roommates and I had dinner, and immediately after we finished, I hopped right up, rushed to the kitchen and did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen again. They kept asking if I was alright, and I almost snapped!

I removed myself from the situation though, and immediately jumped on here, because you guys are amazing. :) I just took an Ativan as well, so hopefully that does the trick.

I'm definitely going to be calling my neurologist first thing tomorrow to see what we can do about this, because I'm always a relaxed, soft spoken person.

Has anyone here who has taken Keppra before get the fidgets and began to get OCD tendencies? If it's any help, I do take Vitamin B6.
 
Last edited:
Give it a little more time. It took me about 2 weeks when I started Keppra to get to an even state. In the mean time, my kitchen could use a little cleaning :)
 
yeah you should give it time to settle in, everyone is different on the drug, and they all make us go crazy at the start!! hope things get better!
 
I started my Keppra journey in January I was a little jittery at first but like huskymom said it took a good 2-3 weeks to get into an even state. Watch fallling back on Ativan as it can be very addictive I've by told by my doctor to only take 1 if I have more than 2 seizures in 1 hour
 
Hmmm, I was already OCD before I took Keppra lol. It did however, make me get super tired though, in bouts. And I did get crabby. Give it some time though. For now though...go clean your bathroom. Lol
 
I had a horrific experience while on levetiracetam - that's all I'll say. Maybe someday I'll know what that experience was. Whatever it was - it left me a wreck.
 
Oh yes, welcome to the Keppra club :)
I started generic 2 weeks ago and was a mess- it gets better! I'm a happy go lucky kindergarten teacher, and it took everything I had to not loose it. If i wasn't in a rage, I was bawling my eyes out for absolutely no reason... and knew there was no reason either- craziness! I too was fidgety, if I wasn't scratching nail polish off my nails I was scratching my hair out. Now i just feel bloaty and sleepy. Hopefully things start looking up for you, on a better note, at least you'll have a spotless apartment!! :)
 
I too am new to the Keppra world looking to hear more from those that have experiences with the med. Started taking in on top of my 500mg of Dilantian to make the change over to Keppra only. Dilantin was making me feel hung over all the time. I know the emotional impacts can be hard for others to understand but try and explain that to those close enough so they can help and not take it the wrong way.
 
I just spoke to my neurologist, and he's pretty much echoing everything that is being said. He mentioned that it takes a few weeks for everything to be absorbed into the system, but once I get my EEG results back, he'll be able to adjust everything accordingly.

He did ask if I could tolerate it for the time being, and I told him he should ask my roommates. :roflmao:

On a more serious note though, I did mention to my roommates and anyone visiting that if I seem different, it's caused by the medication. So if I do end up snapping, not to take it personally. Luckily, they all completely understood. :)
 
My doc just raised the levels of the Keppra, even though the side effects were still in force (not as bad, but still present). Everything is magnified, and it's really starting to take a toll on me not just physically, but mentally as well.

I have an appointment today, so I'm going to bring that up. He pretty much refuses to put me on a regular prescription of .5-1 mg of Ativan to help calm my nerves, because of my appearance. When he sees a tall, skinny guy with tattoos and a mohawk, he immediately thinks I'm in it to become addicted. *sigh*
 
Update: He's taking me off the Keppra, and is givng me a regular prescription of .5 mg of Klonipin. Yay!
 
I used to be either loved or hated everywhere I went for how happy I was before E and mainly Keppra. Have waited for a long time and tho I've felt an adjustment, emotional normalcy and stability is nowhere to be found. Hang in there! And, FYI, even your most loved ones will need constant reminders of the emotional rollercoaster you're on.
 
I was put into a hospital when I was on Keppra, so that I could be taken off it immediately.
My mental state was just slowly going downhill, they don't really like it when teenagers with tattoos mental wellbeing goes downhill.

But eventually it got bad enough that I pretty much thought everyone was out to get me attacked my sister and ran off.

That is not like me at all, Keppra can effect people badly. X
 
That's crazy Zara, so sorry to hear that. What was the purpose of the hospitalization? Were you placed under medications (sedated) to ease the transition? Thanks for your input! :)
 
I was put into hospital to take me off the Keppra, they took me 100% off as fast as possible and put me on topiramate.
No sedation, I was taken off them so quickly.
 
Thanks for the quick reply! I was taken off of Lamictal immediately due to the dreaded rash but had only been on a few weeks. I've been on keppra about a year now... but haven't had a seizure since I added medical mj (just passed in IL but looks like E's won't have immediate access). I'm considering dumping the keppra altogether but want to do it safely. Thanks again!
 
I get the rashes from a lot of them, along with headaches.
But that is just from the colourings in a lot of the tablets, if you are getting rashes then it may be worth checking that out if you aren't getting any other side effects.

For example, I am allergic to a lot of colourings in the tablets, so I have to take the sprinkles - even then I need to take them apart because of the black writing.

A lot of epilepsy tablets have different colourings in than other tablets - causes rashes, headaches, blocked noses and such. X
 
Had no idea that could be an issue, I've been on the same generic for a while so I'm good but that could also be a big part of the problem :)
 
It has been a massive problem for me. I seem to be allergic to all the colourings, having thr colourings present seemed to make the side effects much worse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom