Keppra vs Lamictal

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My husband started having nocturnal seizures when he was 53 years old. Not very often, about once a year, but last year after a conscious seizure his neurologist put him on 200 mg of Lamictal. That made his memory so bad he could hardly function. So, he stopped the Lamictal, and within a couple of months he had another nocturnal seizure.

We got a second-opinion from a neurologist at Johns Hopkins who put him on 500 MG of Keppra, and within a month (this past week) he suffered 3 seizures in one night. The doctor upped the dosage to 2500 mg - 1000 in the morning, 1500 at night - and now my husband is practically catatonic. (Not in the clinical sense.) He says he feels dim, he's depressed, he speaks slowly, and more often than not just stares into space.

What does he do? We see two neurologists, the one at Johns Hopkins, and another one who is closer to our home - both say he needs to just wait this out. It hasn't even been a week since his 3 seizures. Does anyone have experience like this and with these meds?

Thanks!
 
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My son has absence seizures that had generalized into a TC once. Lamictal helped but did not totally stop absence so dr. switched to keppra. He had 8 TCs in a month on keppra--getting more frequent as dose increased. He has not had any TCs since getting off keppra. Switched drs and new dr confirmed that different drugs can increase seizures as well as stopping them. I did a bunch of forum searching on keppra and it seems like it either works awesome or causes a boatload of problems.
 
im on both pretty high doses and i don't remember having that big of a problem with lamictal besides non focusing and seizure activity so they added the keppra not a godsend have terrible memory helps control seizures but still there if i dont take it though either one i will have gran mals all day long.what im saying is it can be good for control for others terrible side effects and also cause seizure activity.thats my experience on it 3000mg of keppra and 800mg of lamictal daily thats what i take along with 4 others trimming that down hoprfully
 
I'm on 2500 mg of Keppra and 400 mg of Lamictal (also 1000 mg Tegretol), and I didn't have any problems with any of them. You said he's only been on this dosage for a week? Give it a while longer. For me it took about a month for the side effects to subside. Mine weren't as severe as his, though.
 
I take keppra and lamictal too, it could be just me but i found when i swapped to keppra it seemed to have a shorter half life. If i dont take it exact same time or bit late, i begin to feel bit funny
 
my daughter as reached 1000mg keppra. 500mg am and 500mg pm . Also taking lamactal 300mg am . After seeing sheila Amys epilepsy nurse , she is reducing lamactal slowly . Amy did have a very small seziure , but this was due to missing her am of keppra and breakfast . So far side effects have dissapeared ( dizzyness and the feelings o feeling like she has a one to many )
 
Amy has had another small seziure this morning . Two in two months , the first like i mentioned missing her am dose . This morning barley been up an hour when she had her second seziure . Seriously re thinking if this is the way to go now
 
It actually sounds like you're doing quite well. To only have 2 in 2 months & one because a medication dose was missed is pretty good in my opinion.


I know I'd be so happy if I could get my seizures down to 1 or 2 a week.
 
im sorry if i sounded like my girl was hard done to . I no she is very lucky compared to others. I just wish it would just go away . Sometimes i feel like i have let her down some where along the way . My sister has three kids , and all doing well . Sometimes its like being an outsider in the family . Just want a normal family life .
 
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