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Anyone find an effective alternative to Mebaral

Thu, 02/25/2016 - 17:49
My daughter was seizure free for 11 years on Mebaral. Since it was discontinued, she has tried Keppra, Keppra XR, Vimpat, Topamax, Lamictal and straight phenobarbital. Any suggestions? Thinking of Mysoline.

Comments

Welcome.

Submitted by just_joe on Fri, 2016-02-26 - 11:16
Welcome. I know all of the medications you posted work. I also know it takes time for the body to get used to a medication and the therapeutic levels to get set at the levels the neurologist wants. Moms are wonderful and they want their kids to have few if any problems. Did you pick the medications she has tried or did the neurologist pick them? How long was she on them? Generally it takes 4-6 weeks for the medication to get where the therapeutic levels the neurologist wants them. After that in order to find out just how well that medication is working it takes a few weeks or a month in order to find out just how well the medication is controlling the seizures. It gives the doctor a little more time to look at the control and see if the dosages need to be raised or lowered. Also as her body changes the dosage may need cjanging Seizure medications are not like aspirin where once taken it is gone after a few hours. It builds up in the body and it takes 4-6 weeks after tha last time it is taken for the medication to be completely out of her system, I have used all of the medications you posted and more. When I was taking phenobarb I also took Dilantin and tegratol. Today the neurologist would like to get a persons seizures controlled wit h1 medication. Which can be done. However for some people one medication may not work. I have tried using one medication and just using it alone hasn't worked for me. Each person is different. The medications may work but the dosages may be different. I hope this helps and I hope she gets her seizures controlled Joe

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