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Keppra and insomnia

Mon, 07/03/2006 - 22:35
Hi to all. I have a question about Keppra. Have any of you experienced insomnia while on Keppra? I have difficulty getting to sleep and when I do, I do not sleep soundly. However, I do not feel as foggy headed during the day as I did before starting it (newly diagnosed with complex partials). I am also experiencing the depression associated with Keppra, but have had problems with depression for many years. I am also under a lot of financial stress right now, so I am sure that may also be contributing to the insomnia. I also think I may be entering perimenopause (41 yrs old and had 1 ovary removed 2.5 years ago). Any feedback would be greatlyy appreciated. TLH64

Comments

Re: Keppra and insomnia

Submitted by fzMousie on Tue, 2006-07-04 - 09:33
Hi TLH I have only just recently started taking Keppra. I have not found any ill effects as far as insomnia goes. It does make me a bit drowsy. However, one of the side effects is listed as being constipation, and I have been anything BUT for the last 3 days ;) Sorry if that is TMI. Maybe some people react opposite to what is supposed to be the side effect? I don't really know. You might want to make a note of it, though, and bring it up with your doctor. I do find I get insomnia when I have a lot of my mind.

Re: Keppra and insomnia

Submitted by andy m on Tue, 2006-07-04 - 18:55
Hi there, I have been on keppra for over 3 years now and the good news is that since day one of taking it I have been szr free. The first thing I noticed about it is something that you touched on about the fogginess being lifted from your head. It was an amazing feeling like my brain was suddenly wired up correctly. As the other reply to your post says quite often people will have the complete opposite reaction to the listed side effects. A few people have mentioned violent mood swings but again it is something i never encountered. I too have suffered from depression for many years, a problem i had before even being officially diagnosed with E but the keppra never made the problem any worse. I have read a few posts from people that have experienced insomnia when first starting to take keppra but after that initial period of adjustment which always varies from person to person the problem seemed to settle down. So i would be inclined to think that it is your various other problems that are contributing to your sleeping problems although adjusting to medication is always hard, i can testify to that from years of chopping and changing meds. I had sleep problems at some point with every other med i took but none at all with keppra. I also take Epilim and clobazam these gave me problems with sleep in the past but with the Keppra added there are no problems, so i guess in a lot of ways the fact that i have been szr free leads to lack of stress and therefore better sleep. Stress is far and away one of the biggest causes of insomnia.

Re: Keppra and insomnia

Submitted by tuesdays_jupiter on Thu, 2006-07-06 - 10:12
i've been on k for almost two years and i've had the same problem. My came with a lil' depression (from K) and I now take trazodone at bed time, the stuff works great.. Sunshine and Daisies, ~Cass "There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportion" -Edgar Allen Poe

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