Potiga and Kickback

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urza3277

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Good morning. I just started taking Potiga yesterday after doing extensive research on it and I had a good feeling about this one but I guess my body had other plans. I currently also take 750 mg Keppra x2 daily but will come off of that once im at 200 mg x2 daily of the other one.

So I took them both together yesterday at 6 am and went back to sleep till 8 then woke up and went about my routine , had a cup of tea and then as I was packing things up for my violin lesson, I stopped and felt my legs crumble out from under me and fell. Good thing my partner was there to grab me. He said the grand mal lasted about 2 minutes. and then after it ended he said I didn't know who he was or my SSN or who the president was. Then I recovered and took an ativan and went to my lesson nervous as hell. he said on the way home from the lesson that I had a complex Partial also.

We have a wedding to go to next weekend and then a family vacation after that to main the following weekend. So my question is should I try to keep switching my meds now or wait till after vacation?
BTW the only seizures I was having on Keppra was simple partials. I would hate to switch to another drug just to start up on Grand Mals and Cps's again.
 
Let your neurologist know right away. He may give you the green light to hold off with the med switch, or even stop it altogether.
 
Thanks for your thoughts Naka. I think I am going to go through a whole dose schedule of it today and see if anything happens today. I am still going to call Monday either way and let them know what happend. And what they want to do if anything.

Cheers!,

Rourke
 
urza3277 said:
. I think I am going to go through a whole dose schedule of it today and see if anything happens today. I am still going to call Monday either way and let them know what happend. And what they want to do if anything.
Click to expand...
Please call your neuro and let them know.

I take 3000 mgs. of Keppra a day and a 200 mgs. of Potiga a day. I was supposed to increase to dosage of Potiga, but when I did, it made me sooooo dizzy and confused, I couldn't take the two together in a higher dosage.

Also, since Potiga is a relatively new drug on the market, has your neuro told you about the FDA warnings of skin discoloration and have you had an eye exam? If on it for long periods of time, it can cause retinal damage to the eyes.

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm349538.htm
 
Hey yeah Im aware of the possible side effects including Urine retention and Eye damage.(Thought that was sabril?) I don't know if I mentioned that once I am full potiga 300 mg twice a day I am going to start decreasing the keppra by 1/2 a pill every week till im just on potiga mono therapy. I think it was the initial shock of taking a new drug and my body was like wtf!!. I am still going to call tomorrow as I said and leave a message. My neuro is only in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Thanks for the advice. Also i have taken two doses today already and feel fine /shrug.
 
I got to 375 mg of keppra x2 and 200 Mg of Potiga x3 and then this past friday the 11th I had two 5 minute break through seizures and was hospitalized.

Now my neuro has me at 300 mg of Potiga x3 and 375 and 500 mg of Keppra for one week then go back to 375 mg of Keppra x2.

Sucks now I feel like I am back at ground zero again.

advice thoughts?
 
Keep detailed notes about how you are feeling in terms of side effects and seizure control. If the current meds aren't doing their job, let the neuro know that you'd like to try something else.
 
So Now I think I am having the same problem Cint was having.
I am at 250mg potiga x3 and keppra 375 am and 500 pm and I upped the dosage of potiga from 250 to 300 mgx3 yesterday per instructions from the neuro and I had every side effect from the potiga at once at work. I was just sitting at my desk and the world began to spin and I knew what was happening and I started to write it down as it was happening but I was having a hard time controlling the pen and writing the words I wanted to kind of like mild aphasia. I also was having a hard time walking in a straight line and my face felt tingly , also my fingernails turned blue and I got freezing cold. Also my heart was racing so I popped a 1mg ativan tablet iv'e been keeping on me for emergency and then once things calmed down I called the neuro and they called me back quickly and told me to drop it back to 250mg x3 again but then this morning on the way to work I had another one of these potiga induced anxiety attacks (thats the best way I can describe them) so now I am scared to take my meds so I think I am only going to take 200mg this afternoon and this evening of potiga and see if things settle. These episodes are definitly not seizures but more of a result of being O'D'd on too many meds at once. Gonna have to call the neuro again ./sigh
 
I hope you feel better soon. Be careful going up and down on the meds too quickly -- it can give your brain and body whiplash.
 
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