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Keppra is bad

Mon, 08/03/2009 - 00:19

I've been prescribed 1000mg Keppra to be taken twice daily.

Here are my side effects:

crippling morbid depression, uncontrollable anger and irritability - i have never in my life felt so depressed that i've wanted to kill myself until taking this medication. i've always been pretty upbeat, if a little irritable due to some minor everyday life stress like paying the bills. Now, i need to focus all of my daily attention just to suppress the suicidal thoughts and anger, like i'm a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. My neurologist says it should level off after 4 or5 weeks and then i'll feel "normal". Yeah, as if feeling like i want to die constantly is "normal".

loss of appetite and nausea - i have to force myself to eat because i don't get the urge anymore. if i don't eat, i get headaches from low blood sugar. Before taking the medication, i was a serious foodie, to the point of seriously considering being a chinese restaurant critic. Now, i can't even look at a pb&j sandwich without feeling sick to my stomach. My neurologist says i'm 75 pounds overweight anyway so its good for me to lose some weight. Feh. I'd rather have seizures than lose my love of food.

extreme sleepiness - i'm napping 5-6 hours in the afternoon, as well as sleeping my normal 7-8 hours at night. Tell me how 14 hours of sleep a day can possibly be good for you? My neurologist says not to talk to him about it until i have a sleep study done for sleep apnea. Bogus. I've never needed more than 6-7 hours sleep a night ever in my life until taking this blasted medication.

Those are the 3 major ones. I found that taking a multivitamin with b-supplements helped for about 2 days, then kind of just stopped working.

Anyone else wanna post their Keppra side effects? Maybe after a while, someone will listen.

 

Comments

Re: Keppra is bad

Submitted by bobbyl896 on Mon, 2009-08-03 - 12:02
Im taking Keppra too...500mg am and 500mg in the pm.  plus dilantin 100 in the am and 200 at night. I too hate the side effects. Ive been on dilantin since my seizures started in '89.  Now Im looking into surgery. I do not like these meds running my life, the side effect are horrible...same as you..depression, irritable and very tired all the time..my doctor say Im getting old...thats the reason...thats why I looked into surgery as a 2nd opinion... look into it, it cant hurt.

Re: Keppra is bad

Submitted by wyboemail on Mon, 2009-08-03 - 10:40

Start taking Vitamin B 100 and this should help. My 10 year old son is on 1000 mg a day and he takes one vitmain B 100 in the am with breakfast and that helps control the side effects for him and many more people that take the B vitamin. We only use the Trader Joes brand since it is all natural.

Good Luck.

 

Start taking Vitamin B 100 and this should help. My 10 year old son is on 1000 mg a day and he takes one vitmain B 100 in the am with breakfast and that helps control the side effects for him and many more people that take the B vitamin. We only use the Trader Joes brand since it is all natural.

Good Luck.

 

Re: Keppra is bad

Submitted by mandasuewilson on Mon, 2009-08-03 - 11:34
I take Keppra XR 500MG... three in the morning and four at night. I do not have suicidal thoughts or irritability though. I have slight weight loss, constant hand tremors (manageable) and I'm not overly drowsy like I was on Depakote in fact I have more energy. I am sorry to hear about all of you who have bad side effects from Keppra and I hope it only gets better for you all and not any worse!

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