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Keppra and Behavior Problems
Wed, 06/16/2010 - 13:26Daughter is 4 1/2 diagnosed with epilepsy of some kind. (can't pin point further than that because all EEG's keep coming back normal). Taking 2 ml Keppra 2x/day.
A little background: My daughter had her first seizure when she was about 2 1/2. It was assumed to be febrile seizure. She had another a couple months later. All tests still normal, so dr started her on phenobarb. No more incidents while on phenobarb. When she was 4, the dr decided to start weaning her off the phenobarb since she'd been ok. But she had another seizure after about a week on the lowered dose. No fever this time. More testing, which came back normal, and we were given epilepsy diagnosis and started on Keppra. Took about 6 weeks to wean her off the phenobarb and onto the keppra. No seizures since then. He's optimistic she'll outgrow them, but we won't try weaning again for a couple more years assuming she remains seizure free.
She's been fully on keppra for about 6-8 weeks. (I'd have to look it up to see exactly). She was fine at first. In fact we noticed a marked difference coming on the phenobarb. More animated. Seemed in less of a fog. But in the last 2-3 weeks, her behavior has gotten worse. She has a meltdown over the tiniest thing...almost like a child who needs a nap. There's almost no reasoning with her. It's like we're going backwards to a 3 yr old's behavior. We were at the pediatrician today for something unrelated and I asked him about it. He said to give it a few more weeks for her body to adjust to the medication and if there's still problems, contact her neuro. I've read some other posts on here where B6 is helpful. Where do I get it and how much do I give her? I think I remember going thru something similar when she started the phenobarb. I just hope she gets thru this before the school year starts.
Comments
Re: Keppra and Behavior Problems
Submitted by brenda-sw on Mon, 2010-09-20 - 20:34
My 4 yr old is also on Keppra for BRE. We take 200ml 1x per day, at bedtime. She is on 25 mg of B6. We buy it OTC (50 mg) cut it in half and she takes it in applesauce. We also take a B-Complex. Alos OTC by Solgar, chewable and I give her half of that as well. Our daughter had some behavior issues in the beginning, mainly when we were increasing dosage. The issues were very short lived...not sure if it is bec we started the B vit's in conjucntion w/ the Keppra. She is also on a Omega 3 supp for the BRE.
gl,
Brenda
My 4 yr old is also on Keppra for BRE. We take 200ml 1x per day, at bedtime. She is on 25 mg of B6. We buy it OTC (50 mg) cut it in half and she takes it in applesauce. We also take a B-Complex. Alos OTC by Solgar, chewable and I give her half of that as well. Our daughter had some behavior issues in the beginning, mainly when we were increasing dosage. The issues were very short lived...not sure if it is bec we started the B vit's in conjucntion w/ the Keppra. She is also on a Omega 3 supp for the BRE.
gl,
Brenda
Re: Keppra and Behavior Problems
Submitted by phylisfjohnson on Thu, 2010-06-17 - 09:56
From Wikipedia: "Keppra is generally well tolerated but may cause sleepiness, weakness, dizziness, and infection. In children, the most common side effects are sleepiness, accidental injury, hostility, irritability, and weakness.
Recent literature suggests that the addition of vitamin B6 may curtail some of the psychiatric symptoms."
As for dosage, most of the information I found was anecdotal. This from the Epilepsy Foundation eforum: "Actually, B6 is a water soluble vitamin and very hard to overdose on. They did studies with B6 and were giving them between 100mg and 600mg a day. From what I've read, the main problems are if you go too high and don't supplement other vitamins, especially the other B's, it can throw things out of whack."
Maybe you can ask your pediatrician about dosing for her..." Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com
From Wikipedia: "Keppra is generally well tolerated but may cause sleepiness, weakness, dizziness, and infection. In children, the most common side effects are sleepiness, accidental injury, hostility, irritability, and weakness.
Recent literature suggests that the addition of vitamin B6 may curtail some of the psychiatric symptoms."
As for dosage, most of the information I found was anecdotal. This from the Epilepsy Foundation eforum: "Actually, B6 is a water soluble vitamin and very hard to overdose on. They did studies with B6 and were giving them between 100mg and 600mg a day. From what I've read, the main problems are if you go too high and don't supplement other vitamins, especially the other B's, it can throw things out of whack."
Maybe you can ask your pediatrician about dosing for her..." Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com