Side effects of meds

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crazychick

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I am currently on 1500mg of keppra and 100mg of tegretol morning and night, i thought i was having hair loss with the keppra, i have noticed my hair loss getting worse as well as my eyebrows and eyelashes falling out as soon as the tegretol was introduced. I also keep going light headed. Does anyone else have these probs with the meds? any comments would be much appreciated.
 
Hi, I hope you're having a good day today.

I used to be on Keppra and was put on it around April or May last year. I had to be slowly taken off Keppra because of my frequent mood swings and every-other-day BAD thoughts. I used to cry almost everyday when I came home from school (I'm a student). As for the thoughts, they were of harming myself. Thank god I didn't actually harm myself. It only went as far as the thoughts. I also frequently questioned myself why I should live longer, which alerted my neurologist and made him taper me off. I can't remember if I had a mild experience of what fellow CWE members call "Kepprage" (spontaneous outbursts of anger/rage/frustration).

Don't worry too much about what I have said above about Keppra, because every case is different in some way.

As for the hair loss you are experiencing with Keppra, that was not the case with me. However, I took 1600mg (daily) of Sodium Vaproate (called Depakote in the US and Canada), which gave me the side-effects of hair loss and weight gain. At the moment, I am on 650mg (500 + 1/2 of 300) of Sodium Valproate (Depakote) and 25mg of Lamotrigine (Lamictal) daily. I'm slowly being tapered off Sodium Valproate so I can soon be on an effective dose of Lamictal.

I hope that you get better sometime soon in the future. Take it easy. Make sure you have at least 4 hours of "me" time everyday. Have a cup of hot chocolate, maybe with some whipped cream - that helps me relax and unwind a bit :). Bake some brownies/cupcakes/cookies if it's a form of therapy for you. I made carrot cupcakes the other day and they were delicious - I can send you the recipe in a Private Message if you would like that. If you want someone to talk to, you can send me a PM (Private Message).
 
Hi lovespurple, thanks for the reply, i have mood swings but no one believes me with any of my side affects. I keep going light headed and sometimes still have seizures but again dont think anyone believes me, its just a nightmare, i often struggle with the why me question.
 
I take carbatrol, which is the same form as tegretol and although I haven't had hair loss, I have had increased gray hair as well as yellowing of the skin.... and I'm 25 so too early for the gray hair.
 
With tegretol I do get lightheaded all the time! And I have bad gums and teeth and headache and tired :( it sucks but all the meds will have side effects
 
Hi crazychick, does anyone actually say that they don't believe that you are having seizures? Has anyone said that "you're faking it" to be the centre of attention or something similar? If the answer is yes, then reduce their ignorance by educating them about Epilepsy.
 
Tegretol (carbamazepine)... same with me as Hand of Blood in the lightheaded through the day (off and on), bad gums, and a headache on/off through the day. In addition for me I get mega beeping in the ears, or tinnitus - incredible study and article on tinnitus at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

I have other problems with tegratol and am pretty sure my body has gotten too used to it over too long a time having to take it as my main drug :crying:
 
people believe me with the seizures i meant people dont believe me with the side affects. I get terible ringing in my ears but i had that with keppra aswell. Ashley christaina omg grey hair at 25 thats a bit wow. Does any of you not sleep because of meds?
 
I can't

handle Keppra at all.......I turn into the Energizer bunny on speed.

Tegretol (Carbatrol), which I have now taken for close to ten years I think, doesn't cause me any problems that I can easily attribute to it.....
 
crazychick said:
Does any of you not sleep because of meds?
Click to expand...

Not sure if its meds, hormones, or what. One positive thing I tried to tell myself about Keppra was at least I'm able to sleep now. That was until the last two nights and I'm back to waking up every hour. But I am still taking 400 mg of Dilantin too which is what I had blamed my sleeping on to begin with.

Wonder if I can ever go back to feeling normal again. Really feel like I'm losing everything...
 
Keppra affected my moods... I think it's part of why I had to go on antidepressants. Part was probably my previous tendency to get depressed, and probably had something to do with the epilepsy... As well as all of the changes that happened after my last T/C seizure.... Waking up on an ambulance in Afghanistan and getting medevaced out and put in a medical hold unit without working defintely had its effect on me. Keppra just made it worse - I would just break down crying for no reason. The side effects eventually got better, but I've been weaning off of it, and have already noticed my mood improving.

NOW I'm on Vimpat with Lamictal. I've been getting really dizzy and extremely tired during the day, despite getting plenty of sleep. Like right now I can hardly hold my eyes open, despite having a two-hour nap yesterday afternoon, and getting at least eight hours of sleep last night :(
 
Oh, and my neurologist gave me Trazadone for sleep. He said it doesn't alter the sleep architecture like a lot of sleeping pills (it's actually an antidepressant), and is commonly used to counteract the effects of seizure meds.
 
Hi Runninggirl85

when I was on Keppra I had crying spells for no reason. horrible to feel like that. I felt so rotten and my dr at the time wouldn't take me off of it.
I admitted myself in the phyc ward and the dr there took me off of it and back on lamictal.
My Neuro now is GREAT !! passionate and really listens to me. Im blessed to have her.
I take Lamictal and Vimpat and an antidepressant like you. I feel tired and hard to keep my eyes open and could use a nap. wish work had nap time like daycares do. lol
 
Im ok with keppra its just the side affects, does anyone suffer with theiur hair growing on their fingers or hands where the hair naturally is? i dont know if this is a side affect or not.
 
Hi Crazychick, I'm not on either of your meds (I was but have been switched) I'm on Topamax and Depakote. The Topamax makes my hair fall out by the handful. I literally have lost more hair than I have what's left on my head, and that's no exaggeration. My epileptologist is switching my meds again but he won't do it until after my veeg next month....so frustrating every time I take a shower and both hands are full of hair!

I've researched and taken supplements for months, to no avail. I've taken mass quantities of B-Vitamins, I've taken Biotin, "hair, nail, skin" vitamins, magnesium and zinc, you name it...I've tried it. I think the bottom line is, to get your hair to grow back you just will have to switch meds. In my case the decision is easy because my Topamax isn't working the way it needs to anyway, so when we detox for the veeg we will reintroduce a new med.

I've also read it is fairly common to grow hair in areas that are not usual for us to have hair, such as the knuckles or whatever. Your doctor should also be familiar with that. When I mentioned the hair loss, he asked me if I was growing hair in weird places and I said no. But you should tell him/her if you are because it's common.
 
Hi brandibrat, thank you. my hair loss seems nothing compared to yours. Does your come from your eyebrows and eyelashes and do you have bald patches or anything?
 
Hi, I haven't noticed any thinning anywhere other than my head and it's pretty uniform balding. It's got to do with a deficiency though, because my nails are also curling at the ends. It's puzzling to me because I'm such a vitamin junky. Before my brain injury I was a marathon runner and I was a personal trainer so I have the certifications and know what vitamins and supplements do what. I take a handful of supplements every morning just to help feed my body what the anticonvulsants take away so it's maddening that I can't figure it out. I asked my primary doctor to run labs so as soon as I see him in a week and a half maybe he can tell me what the deficiency is.
 
Not sure again if drug side effects. Started on keppra July 2nd. Over at my sisters last night. My daughter is expecting my first grandbaby and mom here for shower. I have no idea what I said or did but my sister looks at me with the ugliest look on her face and says "you really need to pull your head out of your xxx". Really hurt... My family, mom and sisters have to be the worst. Talking to a counselor and my opinion is if no one really cares how you feel then what difference does it matter what you do with your life. So depressed today. Can't ruin day for my daughter but ready to get this day over and go into hidding
 
As far as my meds/depression and anxiety. My neuro has me wkg off Dilantin taking keppra. I'm down from 4/day to 1/day as of last Thursday maybe reason for mess. This morning decided to go ahead with 3 Dilantin no keppra 1 mufti vit a b complex b6 and 2 fish oil capsules. I feel much better and may at least make it thru the day. Would neuro agree??? Don't know but I did it anyway.
 
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