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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 re6e11 on Wed, 2010-06-16 - 02:13

i'm on 500 a.m. and 500 p.m.  You'd think it was nothing compared to other doses.  I was on 750, but I cut it down myself because I just was not here, falling down in the middle of roads, all sorts.  The 500 dose is making me feel odd - disoriented.  I stopped in the middle of the road to admire the Sun and the Moon.  Later in the day I feel really down, so down I think of other things which are bad. Looking at people, they're there, but I'm not.  this is half an hour after taking the morning dose.  Unit at hospital tomorrow, but they've known for a long time and are just ignoring my problem.  They tell me to go to my GP.  My GP tries to contact them.

It sounds bad, but it's really encouraging to hear other people have similar problems.

16 June 2010

i'm on 500 a.m. and 500 p.m.  You'd think it was nothing compared to other doses.  I was on 750, but I cut it down myself because I just was not here, falling down in the middle of roads, all sorts.  The 500 dose is making me feel odd - disoriented.  I stopped in the middle of the road to admire the Sun and the Moon.  Later in the day I feel really down, so down I think of other things which are bad. Looking at people, they're there, but I'm not.  this is half an hour after taking the morning dose.  Unit at hospital tomorrow, but they've known for a long time and are just ignoring my problem.  They tell me to go to my GP.  My GP tries to contact them.

It sounds bad, but it's really encouraging to hear other people have similar problems.

16 June 2010

Re: Keppra is bad

Submitted by snowwoman on Wed, 2010-06-16 - 09:21

Hey we sound alike in the sleep department! I used to sleep about 8 hours a night, or 9. When I first started Keppra, I slept an average of about 14 hours a night (10pm-noon!), and catching 3-4 hour sleeps in the mid afternoon before feeling like crap again at 9pm. I called the epilepsy clinic, and they told me to try and let it work first because my body needed time to adjust.

I stayed with the meds, slept (short naps) in all my final exams, and my GPA dropped. I couldn't stay awake long enouhg to finish my papers!

I'm still sleeping a bit more than usual, although it's become better.

But this was better than when I was on Topamax, in which case, I couldn't speak, read or write properly because everything was all haywire. I'm still having word-difficluty problems, but not as bad as wehn with Topamax.

I had practically no appetite for anything when I first started, eating sometimes only a banana the whole day, with maybe some milk or juice. The doc kept warning me to never skip meals because it might trigger a seizure, but food made me feel nauseated. Now my appetite has come back with a vengence and I eat alot!

I haven't had a seizure (well, I think!) since starting Keppra in April. So I guess I'm sticking with Keppra.

 

Hey we sound alike in the sleep department! I used to sleep about 8 hours a night, or 9. When I first started Keppra, I slept an average of about 14 hours a night (10pm-noon!), and catching 3-4 hour sleeps in the mid afternoon before feeling like crap again at 9pm. I called the epilepsy clinic, and they told me to try and let it work first because my body needed time to adjust.

I stayed with the meds, slept (short naps) in all my final exams, and my GPA dropped. I couldn't stay awake long enouhg to finish my papers!

I'm still sleeping a bit more than usual, although it's become better.

But this was better than when I was on Topamax, in which case, I couldn't speak, read or write properly because everything was all haywire. I'm still having word-difficluty problems, but not as bad as wehn with Topamax.

I had practically no appetite for anything when I first started, eating sometimes only a banana the whole day, with maybe some milk or juice. The doc kept warning me to never skip meals because it might trigger a seizure, but food made me feel nauseated. Now my appetite has come back with a vengence and I eat alot!

I haven't had a seizure (well, I think!) since starting Keppra in April. So I guess I'm sticking with Keppra.

 

Re: Keppra is bad

Submitted by tmaried04 on Tue, 2010-06-22 - 01:46
well i have been on keppra for a week and the constant aggitation, the lack of wanting to sleep, the depression, the swelling feet, the total lack of ability to walk let alone think and the way i have to tell myself to get over it is crazy. im new to this epilepsy thing although  i have had it for years just did not know it. o and the memory loss!! does it get any better!??

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