My journey with Vimpat

[Janus]

I've been talking vimpat for a couple years. At first it worked great. But I had bad mood problems. For me it was different than keppra but similar. And seizures returned so we city my dose down to 50 mg it got better. I now take 50 and it helps. It's the best I've found so far, for me. (With lamotrigine, etc.). The smaller amount of vimpat gives me less seizures and not alert mood.

 

[suebear]

Thanks for your reply. Just curious: have you found all citrus fruits to be a problem with exaggerating side effects? I've heard grapefruit juice can be a problem, but didn't know about oranges or orange juice!

Grapefruit is something I need to avoid due to a particular medication, not AED, being taken. No issues with oranges.

 

[Sabbo]

I had tried Vimpat as an add on to Topiramate when dropped Dilantin a few years ago. I did okay--I still ended up averaging 1-3 complex partials/month after a while despite taking 400MG/day of each AED. I had to switch from Vimpat to Zonisamide due to our insurance changing. The old one charged $350 copay for a 3-month supply, The new one wanted me to pay $1600 for just 1 month's supply! Now, I'm in the process of dropping of replacing Topiramate with Xcopri.

 

[Army Vet]

I can't remember when I started taking it, but it's been three-ish years I believe. I wish I had kept a journal because I would like to compare what has happened since I started taking it. It seems like for a few years I can't get a decent night's sleep. Insomnia if you will. I've done some different things over the last couple of years to get some better sleep, but it's still not great compared to back in the day where I didn't want to get up. Now I wake up at 2-3 AM and don't want to go back to sleep. I've started going to bed at midnight or so and can at least go to sleep for awhile.

It seems like this started when I first started taking Vimpat now that I think about it. My dad has been ill with cancer since then and with covid I haven't really thought about it. PLUS, the fun side effect of dizziness. I've found that I have to get something on my stomach ~AND~ let it digest awhile before I take it. Of course NEVER take meds on an empty stomach, but I can't take it directly after eating. Nope. Better wait an hour or so. I went out to help a friend do something right after breakfast, took my pills and then I was dizzy. Even laying down and closing my eyes wouldn't stop the my head from spinning. Here lately, I've noticed I have a hard time catching my breath. Last time I saw my neurologist, he listened to my heartbeat and was a little concerned because it was fast after sitting there for awhile. He made me go as if I was going to checkout a room and stay! I gave blood and a urine sample. EVERYTHING! Well it all came back normal.

With all of these side effects (and it not necessarily helping my seizures get lower) I think the pill is doing more harm than good. Next time I see him, I'm going to tell him about all of this and suggest (require) him to take me off of it. Everyone knows his/her own body better than anyone else. Doctors are guessers at both illnesses AND solutions. What works for one might be poison/useless to another. Just look at epilepsy.