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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 Josenni on Mon, 2009-08-03 - 00:36
Hi Nigel, I'm sorry to hear about your experience. How long have you been taking Keppra? How much dosage? How often or how bad are your episodes? I'm sorry for asking so many questions. I just started Keppra tonight. I'm a little nervous. How about seeking for another neurologist?

Re: Keppra is bad

Submitted by sifra on Tue, 2009-08-04 - 06:01
i have been on Keppra for about one year. It makes me sick after I take it, and that last for about one houre. What is worrying me more is that slowly the PTT[ blood coagulation time ]in rising. This is the reason I can not have Depakot and other AED which is interfering with the blood coagulation. I take 1500 mg a day of Keppra. i must say that it helps a little.  What helps me the most is; when I feel a sz comming to take 2 pufs [smoke] of marijuana. That kept me szfree for one year. at the moment it is not avaible and again started with having sz and hurting myselve. Any advise from you?

Re: Keppra is bad

Submitted by Nigel145 on Tue, 2009-08-04 - 08:23

I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to smoke pot (or any regular cigarettes even) to keep off seizures. Smoking, drinking alcohol, or doing drugs can only make things worse in any case.

To answer you question, I've been on Keppra approximately 2 1/2 weeks. I thought it was strange my neurologists started me on such a high dosage so fast especially since I've seen that most folks seem to be gradually increasing their dosage over time.

Also, why wouldn't the neurologists warn you about these crippling side effects before starting the medication? You would think they would at least suggest counseling during the first few weeks anyway.

- James

I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to smoke pot (or any regular cigarettes even) to keep off seizures. Smoking, drinking alcohol, or doing drugs can only make things worse in any case.

To answer you question, I've been on Keppra approximately 2 1/2 weeks. I thought it was strange my neurologists started me on such a high dosage so fast especially since I've seen that most folks seem to be gradually increasing their dosage over time.

Also, why wouldn't the neurologists warn you about these crippling side effects before starting the medication? You would think they would at least suggest counseling during the first few weeks anyway.

- James

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