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Keppra is bad
Mon, 08/03/2009 - 00:19I'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 -Please don't make generalizations
Submitted by snowwoman on Mon, 2010-06-21 - 21:52
I agree with Ramona and Music4me. Everyone is paranoid enough about AED drugs that it sometimes comes to the point of pointing the finger at the AED everytime something out of the ordinary happens. I can definitely understand why, because I feel that way too sometimes, but maybe sometimes it isn't the drug.
Keppra has worked for ME; I have some side effects (sleepiness and weight gain that has been manageable), but as far as I know, have not had a seizure since starting in April.
As for doctors not warning you, it COULD be due to a variety of reasons.
1) They are ignorant and think the pharmacist will do it. The pharmacist thinks the doctor will do it.
2) They don't want to induce the nocebo effect--where patients start manifesting a bad reaction because the drug has gain notoreity for such a reaction. It's like the opp. of the placebo effect where people genuinely feel better because the drug is famous for curing something.
For example, if the doctor keeps cautioning you you will be tired with the drug (and many people with epilepsy are more tired anyway), the next time he asks if you're going to be tired, it's hard to actually tell if you were really more tired, or you were just having a bad day.
My doctor warned me about suicidal thoughts and/or psychotic feelings and behaviours, and told me if it happens, stop immediately and see a doctor. Every other side effect, call and consult with the Epilepsy nurse.
3) A combination of 1 and 2, or some other reason.
So let's not scare each other. It's tough all around, drug or no drug.
I agree with Ramona and Music4me. Everyone is paranoid enough about AED drugs that it sometimes comes to the point of pointing the finger at the AED everytime something out of the ordinary happens. I can definitely understand why, because I feel that way too sometimes, but maybe sometimes it isn't the drug.
Keppra has worked for ME; I have some side effects (sleepiness and weight gain that has been manageable), but as far as I know, have not had a seizure since starting in April.
As for doctors not warning you, it COULD be due to a variety of reasons.
1) They are ignorant and think the pharmacist will do it. The pharmacist thinks the doctor will do it.
2) They don't want to induce the nocebo effect--where patients start manifesting a bad reaction because the drug has gain notoreity for such a reaction. It's like the opp. of the placebo effect where people genuinely feel better because the drug is famous for curing something.
For example, if the doctor keeps cautioning you you will be tired with the drug (and many people with epilepsy are more tired anyway), the next time he asks if you're going to be tired, it's hard to actually tell if you were really more tired, or you were just having a bad day.
My doctor warned me about suicidal thoughts and/or psychotic feelings and behaviours, and told me if it happens, stop immediately and see a doctor. Every other side effect, call and consult with the Epilepsy nurse.
3) A combination of 1 and 2, or some other reason.
So let's not scare each other. It's tough all around, drug or no drug.
Re: Keppra is bad -Please don't make generalizations
Submitted by aessig928 on Thu, 2010-02-18 - 21:05
Hey,
I started on Keppra (well the generic of Keppra) 2 1/2wks ago and its been hell since I started. My doc. started me off at 1000mg in the morn and 1000mg at night but I was feeling naseous and so so tired all the time so he reduced it two seperate times ...I'm now taking 500mg in the morn and 500mg at night and I managed to stay awake all day today ...which is the first day I've managed to stay awake in the daytime since Ive been on Keppra. But its so hard to wake up in the morning. I sleep through my alarms, I'm in a fog for hours after I wake up. I have to force myself to eat anything because I have no appetite anymore. Personally, I hate this shit.
I'm glad for all ya'll that Keppra is working for. But for me...Keppra sucks. I hear you that say that medicines are different for different people though...because I've been on Zonegran for four years and hardly had any problems with it (except the whole problem of my body totally getting used to it and having more seizures...)
Hey,
I started on Keppra (well the generic of Keppra) 2 1/2wks ago and its been hell since I started. My doc. started me off at 1000mg in the morn and 1000mg at night but I was feeling naseous and so so tired all the time so he reduced it two seperate times ...I'm now taking 500mg in the morn and 500mg at night and I managed to stay awake all day today ...which is the first day I've managed to stay awake in the daytime since Ive been on Keppra. But its so hard to wake up in the morning. I sleep through my alarms, I'm in a fog for hours after I wake up. I have to force myself to eat anything because I have no appetite anymore. Personally, I hate this shit.
I'm glad for all ya'll that Keppra is working for. But for me...Keppra sucks. I hear you that say that medicines are different for different people though...because I've been on Zonegran for four years and hardly had any problems with it (except the whole problem of my body totally getting used to it and having more seizures...)