Taking Generic Levetiracetam (Keppra?)

I'm on the generic versions of Keppra and Depakote, and have nothing to say but "Great products ... I love what I'm saving in money!". I see no difference between the name brands and the made-in-America generic ones. So much warning that's out there about generics is done by people who have absolutely no facts to back up their headlines--or it's coming from name brand drug companies that cannot bear the idea of bringing in less money per year. If you're trying out generics, my fellow patients, do not make decisions until you've given your body several months to adjust to them. Rah-rah, generics. Keep on coming!

Our son has been on brand name Keppra for over 5 years.  He has had many brain surgeries for his epilepsy and has a VNS. The brand name Keppra worked well. He still had occasional breakthrough seizures but they were mostly simple partial and he was able to stop a large number of them with his VNS magnet. The violent tonic-clonic were rare since the surgeries. We were hopeful that we would not have any more of the violent tonic-clonic seizures that were so frequent before the surgeries, the many episodes of status epilepticus and the post-ictal psychosis. His quality of life was improved greatly with Keppra. Then in November he was switched to the generic Mylan brand Keppra by the pharmacist. He told us we didn't have a choice! He told us to " take it or leave it." Our son started to have violent seizures again within a week and they continued for months until he finally was put back on the name brand Keppra. Even after going off the generic brand, he still had violent seizures and the epileptologist switched him last week to Keppra XR and the new Vimpat. We started the Keppra XR this past Tuesday, and the Vimpat will be started/added  this coming Tuesday. The pharmacy in filling the new keppra XR again gave us generic medication but I was able to catch this appalling action before I left the pharmacy. The pharmacy then filled the XR with regular brand name Keppra. I refused that as well and left very upset without the medication our son was prescribed. We have since then gotten the correct medication but today I realized that they gave the incorrect number of pills for what the doctor ordered. It has been a very bad experience dealing with our local pharmacy since November. They neither care about what our son has gone through to try to control these seizures and the pain and suffering they are putting him/us  through nor do they care what the epileptologist prescribes. They constantly blame the epileptologist who is the head of a comprehensive epilepsy center in a very large city for making the errors!  It appears that  they are only interested in saving money for the pharmacy. We live in a rural area where there is only 1 pharmacy within 10 miles.  We have learned since November that switching to generic should only be done with the ok of the doctor prescribing the Keppra and that blood work should be done before the switch and about 2 weeks after to make sure the levels are correct and there are no side effects. Our son has always been very sensitive to any changes in dosing or time of dosing. I did not think that anything like this would ever happen to him after all he is a volunteer and a HOPE Mentor for the Epielpsy Foundation and had to experience first hand what we have been hearing from many in our support groups...going to generic is not always a good thing. It saves money for the pharmacy and the insurance company but can cost someone their life which it has already done. Thankfully our son is off the generic now but we have to deal with this inept pharmacy staff who are arrogant and do not ever apologize for their actions since they feel they are justified. Some things are legal but misreading a prescription is not acceptable nor is rudeness. Do not tolerate it and always check your medication before you pay for it.  I am happy that some of you are satisfied with it, but many others cannot take it but it is forced on them.  As you know epilepsy medication works differently on different people. good luck to all who are thinking of making the switch.