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Depakote
Tue, 08/10/2004 - 21:50Comments
RE: Depakote
Submitted by jdrummond on Sat, 2004-07-31 - 07:48
RE: RE: Depakote
Submitted by ermeszter on Sat, 2004-07-31 - 20:45
Hi,
Thank you for letting me know, that Depakote ER does not make you so sleepy. I think my husband's zeisures are difficult to control also. He is now on Depakote 1500mg total, 3x 500mg a day; and Keppra 3000mg total, 2x 1500mg a day. He is very speepy and very tired. He sleeps every night from 8:00 PM to 9:00 AM, sometimes longer, and takes several naps during the day. I wake him up at 10:00 PM to give him his Depakote, and at 7:00 AM Depakote again and at 8:00 AM Keppra and all the other ones what he gets, after that he falls asleep again. Now his seizures are a lot shorter, then before. Last year before they changed his medication, he was on 350mg of Dilantin and 50mg of Topomax. Then his seizures were 30, 40, 50 minutes long, we ended up all the time at the ER. He has a combination btw. stroke and epilepsy and they say that the scar tissue from the stroke is causing the seizures. He cannot walk alone, not even with a walker, to transfer to the chair, sometims it takes all my strenght. Is this from epilepsy or from the stroke? After a seizure he is so tired, that he cannot move at all. Dilantin was not working for him at all, because the levels were very unstable.
What makes me wonder, after the stroke, coma and paralisis on the left side, my husband recovered pretty well, and was walking alone with no help. After about 6 months, the seizures started, and we got back to scratch again!
What kind of a seizures do you have, how long do they last? Do you remember anything? Are you week after the seizures? How many times a month? Escuse me if I am asking all this questions? You do not have to answer.
Thank you again and good luck to you, my prayers are with you
Katalin
Hi,
Thank you for letting me know, that Depakote ER does not make you so sleepy. I think my husband's zeisures are difficult to control also. He is now on Depakote 1500mg total, 3x 500mg a day; and Keppra 3000mg total, 2x 1500mg a day. He is very speepy and very tired. He sleeps every night from 8:00 PM to 9:00 AM, sometimes longer, and takes several naps during the day. I wake him up at 10:00 PM to give him his Depakote, and at 7:00 AM Depakote again and at 8:00 AM Keppra and all the other ones what he gets, after that he falls asleep again. Now his seizures are a lot shorter, then before. Last year before they changed his medication, he was on 350mg of Dilantin and 50mg of Topomax. Then his seizures were 30, 40, 50 minutes long, we ended up all the time at the ER. He has a combination btw. stroke and epilepsy and they say that the scar tissue from the stroke is causing the seizures. He cannot walk alone, not even with a walker, to transfer to the chair, sometims it takes all my strenght. Is this from epilepsy or from the stroke? After a seizure he is so tired, that he cannot move at all. Dilantin was not working for him at all, because the levels were very unstable.
What makes me wonder, after the stroke, coma and paralisis on the left side, my husband recovered pretty well, and was walking alone with no help. After about 6 months, the seizures started, and we got back to scratch again!
What kind of a seizures do you have, how long do they last? Do you remember anything? Are you week after the seizures? How many times a month? Escuse me if I am asking all this questions? You do not have to answer.
Thank you again and good luck to you, my prayers are with you
Katalin
RE: Depakote
Submitted by ermeszter on Tue, 2004-06-08 - 23:35
Well, so much for being seizure free, he had a seizure this morning, and I did not wake up. This time not even the dog heard him. This terrifies me, because if he has a seizure what is longer, and I could not hear him, what will happen. I was looking for a device, what could allert you, if he has a seizure? Does something like that exist? I asked around, but nobody nows anything.You are right, his situation is very complex, the stroke and later on epilepsy. He had several falls, a bleed in the inner brain, what was 3cm big, than an other fall, what caused a hydrocefalus, had burr holes, which did not work, and finally a shunt. July 2003 he started having the seizures, what lasted 30 to 50 minutes. Now his seizures are about 2 to 3 minutes. I agree with you, that doctors and nurses think, you are an idiot, during this time I beame a different person. I saw so many errors in the hospitals and rehab centers, that you cannot immagine. there were several places, where I had nothing but fight. About medication: wrong dose, wrong time, not checking his levels, and if they did they did not check how the level was. I am wondering does it happen to other people also, and they do not know it, and I am the only one catching it? I could write a book about it. Thanks God, his neuro does not think I am an idiot, and listens to me.The execises are going OK, but as soon as he has a seizure, his left side becomes very week, weeker as it already is and kind of we have to start from the beginning again. Soon therapy will stop, because BCBS pays only 60 a year. At home we are doing exercise also, and hope for the best.I wish you the best, and pray for you all.Thaks againKatalin