Community Forum Archive

The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.

Keppra is bad

Mon, 08/03/2009 - 00:19

Topic: Medication Issues

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

there has got to be a

Submitted by Aennenir on Sun, 2018-04-08 - 00:56

there has got to be a different medication thar will not put your child in harms way, like a cannabinoid?? My heart goes out to you, I hope you find something else that works

I started taking Keppra about

Submitted by Joshua Belyeu on Sun, 2018-04-15 - 10:44

I started taking Keppra about 7 years ago. Around the same time, my thoughts and emotions became obsessively dark and nearly uncontrollable. I remember taking a shower one day, nothing incredibly abnormal going on in my life...and then suddenly, a very perverted thought entered my mind. What freaked me out even more than the thought itself, was I couldn't make it go away. It was disgusting and obscene, but I thought it might be a one-off kind of thing. After all, I had been on Tegretol for epilepsy in the past, and that medication kept me so emotionally locked down I couldn't express anything...so I guess I thought it was a side-effect of the pill switch. Soon however, the negative and dark thoughts returned, growing in their darkness and their obsessiveness every hour of every day. I'd be having a conversation with someone, only for a thought to suddenly enter my mind about either killing or having sex with them...even both. It wasn't just adults, either - these thoughts were about kids, other men, my own family, strangers, and even their pets! But since I knew nothing of Keppra beyond its use for treating epilepsy, I had no reason to suspect it might be the trigger for this whole nightmare. I also started hallucinating like crazy, mainly about snakes since I'm deathly afraid of them. I saw them everywhere, almost so real that I could reach out and touch them. I could almost hear them hissing in my mind, and feel them striking in my thoughts. Its still something I struggle with...all of this crap. The taking of vitamin B-6 didn't do anything for me, so I'll be seeing my neurologist very soon to get this whole thing over and done with. NOTE TO THOSE SUFFERING WITH EPILEPSY - DON'T EVER LET THEM PUT YOU ON KEPPRA! IT WILL COMPLETELY EFF YOU UP!!!

This is my first post here

Submitted by Mark Spivack on Sun, 2018-04-22 - 19:59

This is my first post here and I wanted to see if everyone's issues with Keppra are also related to us all using the generic version.We all know our insurance makes us do this and I was at my monthly epilepsy meeting here in Tucson and talking with one lady she mentioned she can only take the non generic as when her insurance forced her to change over she went from 5 years free of seizures to back to continual episodes.She has a great Doc to advocate and basically demand on her behalf but I am wondering if we all take the generic version. I know I do.I still feel we will all have the same side effects but who knows. I have almost all the same symptoms as everyone here to depression, anger and just bad mood or argue with my wife alot more. So not good stuff.I take a ton of this crap. 3000 mg split into 2x a day plus something called Oxcarbazepine that I am up to 1000mg on that as well.But my issues were before the addition of my new med so I dont think its that. While it is very expensive to go non generic or off insurance I plan to take a 1 month supply and get the non generic and just see if there is any difference but I wanted to see if anyone here is actually taking the real stuff.Please chime in

Sign Up for Emails

Stay up to date with the latest epilepsy news, stories from the community, and more.