Keppra

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pattid12

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Hello, my son is 16 and has myocolonic seizure. His first seizure was last February and he had another one on Thursday. he has been on Keppra for 1 year and worked beautifully. I picked up a refill at CVS and he told me it tasted and smelled different. He didn't tell me this until the bottle was 1/2 empty. He told me that he felt he needed to see the doctor. I waited until the next morning to contact CVS however he had a seizure in his sleep. I got nervous and called ambulance. The doctor told me to raise the med to 750ml which I did. I went to CVS and they told me the new refill was from a different manufacturer. Did anyone ever experience this before. I feel CVS screwed me and that my son did not get his usual med. The pharmacist assured me that it's the same med with the same dosage. I don't believe him.....
 
Yup, folks have definitely experienced increased seizure activity when switching --either from brand to generic, or from one generic manufacturer to another. Keppra can be especially tricky, since it has a shorter half-life -- as a result people can be more sensitive to changes in its strength. It's most likely to happen with different generic manufacturers, rather than with the brand though. Is your son on the generic version (levetiracetam)? If so, ask his neuro to specify "brand-only, no substitutions" on his rX.

Ask CVS whether they can keep ordering from the same manufacturer. Sometimes they can't due to factors beyond their control (like shortages or regulatory issues). My insurance requires that after a few months I have to order from CVS Caremark online rather than my local store. Caremark purchases from a different manufacturer than my local CVS store, so I have to be careful if I go from one to the other.
 
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Thanks for replying! The pharmacist noted on my son's profile to only order from the manufactuer "Roxane". that's what he's been on for 1 year. I can't believe this happened again. It's a huge setback for him. Especially he is sore and bit his tongue again. Oh Well, thanks again and good luck! That information helped my mind!
 
Definitely yell at CVS then! And maybe mention the word "lawsuit" to see how they react.

I hope your son recovers and gets stable again. The higher dose might provide a "safety margin" for any accidental batch swaps that happen in future (though fingers-crossed it won't happen again).
 
I've had my Keppra switch non-generic companies, but had no problems. What the pharmacy was SURE TO DO was mention it to me and put a sticker on the bottle to ensure I knew there was a change.

Certainly something they should have done.

Whats with the recent changes in Keppra?
 
I had to switch generics cf Keppra and noticed some changes. However my body seems to h have adjusted, and my pharmacy has a note in my file to stay with the same manufacturer. Apparently the first generic brand I used was no longer being produced.
 
My son may have to change medication to Keppra in the coming months. His current med may be giving him liver problems - not eliminating cholesterol & triglycerides. He has been on a special diet for three months now. Next week, he'll be having his last blood test. If there has been no change in his cholesterol & triglycerides levels, his neuro has suggested changing his med to Keppra.

Reading this post, I did a quick search for Keppra problems and came upon this -->[being new, I am not allowed to post links. So I'll try to find a way around that by suggesting you copy #epilepsy.com/blogentry/980800 in your browser (by adding the usual www and without the symbol in front) to get to the post.]

I found it helpful, especially the comment where the user told us to insist that brand only be prescribed. I hope others find it useful as well.
 
I think it's all about what you're used to. I've always had brand, so when I get given a slightly different generic I may be more likely to have a seizure. Though not necessarily, we're talking tiny amounts of change here..

Having said that, there is a larger % allowance for content in generics in the EU than you might expect for AEDs and I'm pretty sure it's the same with every drugs authority, so constantly switching generics could well cause a slight instability in the level of dosage.

Staying on the same vendor's generic should be fine though, and so yes it's extremely important they notify you of any changes. This was a major boo-boo on their part.
 
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