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chrevan · 03-12-2005, 01:40 PM

Hi people

this will be the sister thread to the successful "Trileptal Anyone?"

Ive been writing a lot about my recent experience switching from dilantin to trileptal. Well, it has been pretty unsuccessful.

Weening off the dilantin to the trileptal caused me to have a grand mal. This was "ok" according to my neuro, and was classified a "break through seizure". I felt ok for the first few days after the seizure, but started getting light headed a few times a day which quickly increased to me being dizzy a few times an hour within a week. I was getting worse by the day and told my dr. who had me go in for an MRI and EEG. The MRI came back normal, but the EEG picked up some seizure activity. Apparently these "dizzy spells" that I have been dealing with were actually focal seizures.

The dr. just increased me to 900mg/2x a day of trileptal because at the already increase level of 750mg (originally 600mg), it isn't doing it's job, is starting me on 500mg/2x day of Kepra (along w/ the trileptal). Apparently Kepra is a better anti-convulsant than trileptal with similiarly low side effects.

Is there anyone out there who can share any info on this Kepra?

In the words of my favorite Californian Governor: "...I'll be back."

Phoebe · 03-13-2005, 04:08 PM

I take Keppra now. I went through many before I got to it but it is new. I had surgery in 1998 for my TLE and made the right decision! I didn't start Keppra until after surgery and it took a bit of getting used to. It affected my emotions and has a tendency to do that. Once I got the dose up to where my Epileptologist wanted it, the emotional effects decreased which tells me that maybe it wasn't controlling all of my sz activity. Do you see an Epileptologist at a Comprehensive Epilepsy Center or an general neuro? If your seizures do not stop completely, please check into going to a Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. The chances of an AED stopping your seizures after having tried several is not good with meds alone. There are other options. I like Keppra now and take it alone, I had surgery too I mentioned. I also took Tegretol many years with Lamictal when it came out. No med stopped my seizures. The Tegrtol took away a lot of living in that it affected my memory and cognition. It made me crabby too. Surgery was a good decision for me. I knew my team and their expertise and would do it again. You can use the Search feature to find more info on Keppra. Keppra does not bother my memory nor my cognition which is greatly important to me. There is more here. Other sites offer good info too. It is good to visit several. Phoebe

buliem · 03-14-2005, 09:27 AM

Hi Chrevan,

My 10 year-old son takes Keppra along with depakote. We just went to the neuro Friday and he is gradually upping his dose to 1000 mg. He was at 750. Now at 875. Patrick was still having seizures on 1500 mg of depakote a day and he was really zombie like on it. We cut back to 1250 and added the Keppra. He still is having grand mals occasionally (two or three a month lately) but hopefully this latest increase will help. Keppra does come with some behavioral issues. Agitation (translates to hyperness in my kid) aggression, depression and irritability. He does seem to be able to think a little better. I'd rather have hyper and a little snippy than a zombie. Unfortunately the teachers don't think so but they do realize that he can't learn when he's so drugged out and/or suffering from the after effects of a grand mal. The neuro said that if it gets much worse we'll have to think up another game plan. Sigh. Patrick's trying really hard to behave and he wasn't hyper before Keppra but it really seems to control his seizures better than depakote alone. Good luck! Just watch out for the moodiness.

Travis from MN · 03-14-2005, 09:00 PM

The only problem I EVER had on Keppra was when they OD'd me at 4000mg/day along with my other 2 drugs at the time (teg XR and Dilantin). Once Kepp was dropped to 3000 I was fine again.

Eilidh1 · 03-15-2005, 07:22 PM

Hey Chevran.

Keppra is quite new to me, and it's great in that for the first time in over 6 years I'm not having side effects from drugs. My seizures aren't great though, I'm having about 2 grand mals a month and the last one i had was really violent and lasted longer than usual. We've no idea about what's triggering them, I'm taking good care of myself and I'm feeling good apart from the seizures. I'm also having absences and myoclonic jerks with this combination (3000mg keppra and 400mg lamictal per day). I too have been on loads of different drug combos, each causing different nasty side effects, but as I said, where side effects are concerned, keppra for me is ace. I doubt it's the solution though, because my seizures are causing big problems and I'm aiming for "fit-free". However the important thing to remember is that drugs affect everyone in different ways, and what may be great for someone may be awful for someone else.

Good luck!
Eilidh
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