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High Keppra Dose

Wed, 06/28/2006 - 19:21
I saw my neuro monday and she really thinks that my dosage of Keppra should be increased from 3000mg to 4000mg. I noticed that this is a Very high dose and just wanted to see if anyone is on this high of a dosage and if so any differences in taking a dose SOOO high? My neuro said that ppl take as much as 5000 mg but everything i've seen thus far says that 3000 mg is the max out, so if anyone can help me out i'd be soo glad?!?! ~Cass

Comments

Re: Re: High Keppra Dose

Submitted by andy m on Mon, 2006-07-10 - 10:53
When I first started taking keppra it was only ever seen as an add on med to the existing ones. I was initially asked to take it as part of a trial but i refused and was given it anyway, this was in May 2003 when it was relatively new in the UK, although through these pages i have become aware of its use in the US as early as 2000, but then again only as an add on. On the information sheet that comes with keppra in the UK it doesn't mention a max dose but does mention that for adults the general dose is between 1000mg and 3000mg a day. The leaflet was only updated in the last 6 months so there is all sorts of new info on it that i have never seen before. Before it would be rare for it to be given to children at all over here but now there are dosage guidelines for age 4 upwards. A lot of new possible side effects have been added to the list as well, ones that i had only come across before from reading posts here, including psychiatric disorders, anorexia and amnesia, which is ironic because my memory has improved massively. Obviously the drug companies are getting a lot of feedback from doctors via patients because there are new ones added every time the leaflet is updated. I've got to admit that your neuro's plan to increase you slowly up to 4000mg does seem excessive, almost as if its been done for the sake of it. I know you would probably not be keen on taking more than one type of med but keppra can work very well in conjunction with other meds especially as the dose is usually a lot smaller. If you are taking a massive amount of keppra and its just ending up making you feel very tired all the time then you end up feeling as if you are no further forward. I would be interested to know what the US information leaflet says as mine is not the same one used in the US just Europe. I know keppra has been around for a bit but its use does seem much more widespread in the US than in the UK where it is often still introduced very slowly and as an add on. I looked on the UK E site and from the evidence there very few people take it by itself apart from newly diagnosed people.

Andy, thanx so much for the

Submitted by tuesdays_jupiter on Wed, 2006-07-12 - 11:30
Andy, thanx so much for the comment. I take 3000 mg a day (1500 x 2) and actually haven't had ANY side effects other than sleeplessness and very mild depression (both of which are treated with the same drug, trazodone)---I haven't been tired with K since I was first put on it nearly 2 years ago. I honestly wouldn't care as much if my doc gave me a cocktail, I just want to know if this is common place or if I am a special case. LOL, honestly i think that i'm right up there with the rest of the world in wanting a drug to just miracluouysly (sp?) get rid of ALL OF IT , but lol alas this is not so. Sunshine and Daisies, ~Cass "There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportion" -Edgar Allen Poe

Re: Andy, thanx so much for the

Submitted by andy m on Thu, 2006-07-13 - 01:13
Hi Cass, I'll be honest with you I suffered absolutely no side effects to speak of except the slight ones which i anticipated with switching, adding meds etc (been down that road many times before). The first thing I noticed with keppra was the feeling that my brain had been rewired and switched on again after being turned off by various other meds and combos of meds over the years. I have been szr free since day one of taking keppra, guess i just got lucky, because to all extents we are all very much still lab rats and the docs that treat us do sometimes seem to be as much in the dark as we are, sometimes further in the dark from the experiences i read about. The one thing that concerns me is the fact that new side effects are been 'discovered' and added to the list all the time. When i first started taking it there was no mention of 'suicidal thoughts' as a side effect but its in there now. I know drug companies have to cover their own backs litigation-wise but if a doctor sat someone down and ran through and discussed every possible side effect with the patient they would be out of the door before they got half way down the list. I have read quite a few posts from concerned parents who say keppra has changed their child into someone with almost uncontrollable rage, unrecognisable from the child they once knew. To me that sounds like lab rats at there worst, new wonder drug, lets push it out there as much as possible and wait and see what happens, then leave the patients and their parents or partners to pick up the pieces, not too worry there will be a new wonder drug along soon. Maybe i sound a touch cynical but that's how it seems sometimes. I remember about a year ago there was a full page article in one of the UK daily newspapers about the 'new wonder drug' that was changing the face of epilepsy and bringing joy to millions of sufferers, i had already been taking Keppra for 2 years at this point. Andy PS I also love your quote

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