vschiavone
07-10-2008, 05:57 PM
about 3 years ago I was diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy and take depakote to prevent seizures. This past weekend I fell asleep at the wheel of my car at 10 in the morning (after having had 7 hours of sleep)and crashed my car (new car I might add). Of course I was badly shaken up , but after my parents set an appt for an EEG to see if I had actually had a seizure I did some investigating on Depakote and found out that it can cause severe drowsiness in some people. Just wondering if anyone out there has experienced similar problems? I take 500 mg. in the morning and 750 mg at night. Looking for some answers...
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jcjwillis
07-11-2008, 09:36 AM
My sister has had Epilepsy for many years and has tried many a different drug to help control seizures. Many of them having side eddfects being sleepy is one of the biggest side effects. Usually on the bottle or on the papers there will be the warning Do not drive or operate heavy machinery untill you find out how this medication affects you. This is the exact reason they give such warnings because people react differently to medicine.
My sister was told that she could not drive because she had to take such strong medicine and had uncontrolled seizures.
Please be very careful with any medication and do not drive untill you know how you may react to a medication!
My sister was told that she could not drive because she had to take such strong medicine and had uncontrolled seizures.
Please be very careful with any medication and do not drive untill you know how you may react to a medication!
feelbad
07-11-2008, 11:31 AM
if you were actually on the depakote for three years,it should not have really been part of the issue,of course unless you have felt sleepy for the three years you have been on it? alot here depends upon just how long you have been on this drug and at the same dosage. it would be very rare for a drug,and being on it as long as you have,to suddenly produce this type of symptom all by itself.
if you had been stable on this med for a great length of time and did not recently have any raise in dosage,there could be other reasons fort he break thru siezure that need to be looked into. just how old are you? i really think having an MRI along with or in place of the EEG would be much more revealing actually. have you ever had an MRI done on your brain at all? i just don;t think an EEG really would show anything with a past siezure only one that could be happening at the time of the EEG was being done? i could be wrong there but it wouldn't seen likely that it would be capable of doing that,you know what i mean? while it would detect abnormal brain activity to a degree,it wouldn't actually really "show' you anything "in' the brain like an MRI would ya know?
i am just wondering how your doc came to the original Dx,espescially if there was never an mri done. knowing whether you had one and when would really help since other things can cause siezure activity within our brains from other casues besides a form of epilepsy. just making certain you have the proper Dx,thats all. there are just some docs out there who are too quick to label a Dx on a child and go with that without really exploring other possibilities,you just need to know why this break thru siezure took place and if there are other causes besides epilepsy.
the dose of dep you are on is a pretty low dose if this has been going on for three years(you just should not be reacting to it if it has been that long). it could be that you simply need an adjustment made or some other reason,but you really do need to know what caused that "sleep' episode or if this was indeed some sort of siezure activity. it just could have other casues. if you have not ever had an MRI or have not had one recently(within the last year or so) i would really speak with your doc about having one. alot of things that we can have wrong in our brains/bodies can develop or show themselves more just with time. so something that could have been prompting activity may not have shown up three years ago but could be now kind of thing?
you just need some questions answered and to make certain your current dep dose is still effective. is your doc regularly monitoring your liver labs while you have been on the depakote? my son was on dep and we did have to make very certain all his liver labs were checked often. this med has a "black box' warning(this is the highest 'warning" that the FDA can give about a impactful side effect with any med) about the effects it can have upon liver function. i am hoping you are aware of this? there are other anti siezure meds out there that don't have that hard of impact upon your liver. there are MANY other types of anti siezure meds out there actually that you could try that would just be safer for you too. just a suggestion. i hope everything is okay here. please keep us posted on things. FB
if you had been stable on this med for a great length of time and did not recently have any raise in dosage,there could be other reasons fort he break thru siezure that need to be looked into. just how old are you? i really think having an MRI along with or in place of the EEG would be much more revealing actually. have you ever had an MRI done on your brain at all? i just don;t think an EEG really would show anything with a past siezure only one that could be happening at the time of the EEG was being done? i could be wrong there but it wouldn't seen likely that it would be capable of doing that,you know what i mean? while it would detect abnormal brain activity to a degree,it wouldn't actually really "show' you anything "in' the brain like an MRI would ya know?
i am just wondering how your doc came to the original Dx,espescially if there was never an mri done. knowing whether you had one and when would really help since other things can cause siezure activity within our brains from other casues besides a form of epilepsy. just making certain you have the proper Dx,thats all. there are just some docs out there who are too quick to label a Dx on a child and go with that without really exploring other possibilities,you just need to know why this break thru siezure took place and if there are other causes besides epilepsy.
the dose of dep you are on is a pretty low dose if this has been going on for three years(you just should not be reacting to it if it has been that long). it could be that you simply need an adjustment made or some other reason,but you really do need to know what caused that "sleep' episode or if this was indeed some sort of siezure activity. it just could have other casues. if you have not ever had an MRI or have not had one recently(within the last year or so) i would really speak with your doc about having one. alot of things that we can have wrong in our brains/bodies can develop or show themselves more just with time. so something that could have been prompting activity may not have shown up three years ago but could be now kind of thing?
you just need some questions answered and to make certain your current dep dose is still effective. is your doc regularly monitoring your liver labs while you have been on the depakote? my son was on dep and we did have to make very certain all his liver labs were checked often. this med has a "black box' warning(this is the highest 'warning" that the FDA can give about a impactful side effect with any med) about the effects it can have upon liver function. i am hoping you are aware of this? there are other anti siezure meds out there that don't have that hard of impact upon your liver. there are MANY other types of anti siezure meds out there actually that you could try that would just be safer for you too. just a suggestion. i hope everything is okay here. please keep us posted on things. FB