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Husband going off Keppra
Tue, 11/01/2016 - 18:27Topic: Medication Issues
I decided to join this just to get some feed back so I'm not an overly anxious/paranoid wife. Back story, my husband went into Sudden Cardiac Arrest last year. They concluded he had a seizure, but didn't know if it was triggered by the SCA or if the seizure caused the SCA... chicken or the egg basically. Two days after being taken out of a medically induced coma, he had a grand mal seizure. So, they put him on 500 mg Keppra 2x a day. Only times in his life that he's ever had seizures, none since and no family history. His neurologist suspects it could be lifestyle/alcohol related anyways. We were binge drinkers and while trying to stay fit, he was also taking a cocktail of supplements and hydroxycut. Proud to say we are a year sober and feeling great! Plus there were times that he had missed UpTo a full day of meds because of being extremely busy and just forgetting. Anyways, About 6 months ago, he had an EEG that came back clean. Today, his neurologist has decided that its time to go off the meds. First week is half pill in the am then full in the pm. Second is half pill am, half pill pm. Third week is half pill pm. Fourth week done.
So, any tips, suggestions, things to look out for will be more than appreciated! Especially if anyone has gone through what he has. He's not even worried, but again, don't want to be a nervous wife.
Comments
OK wife that doesn't want to
Submitted by just_joe on Tue, 2016-11-01 - 21:45
OK wife that doesn't want to be nervousIt could have been a one time thing. It does happen. weaning someone off meds is done slowly. The reason is because they can stop the weaning and go back one step and his seizures could be controlled at that point.. Also understand that seizure medications are nothing like other medications where one you take it it's gone in a few hours. It took time for the therapeutic levels to built in his body. Generally that is 3-4 weeks after starting it. So the last pill he takes it will take a little while for the therapeutic levels to be completely out of his system. My cousin had gone 5 years without any seizures and the neurologist started weaning her off meds. She had a seizure just lower the half the amount she had been on. so they backed it up one notch. She didn't have seizures as long as she took the meds and that went on for many years. So just watch and keep track of anything that happens different during the days in case he has a seizure. Hopefully it is a one time thing and he has no problems while being weaned off the keppra..Relax and just be yourself and he should be fine.Oh and it is nice to see that you both have been sober for a year at least. It saves you a little money which you spent on keppra. But you may have that to spend on other things or put it towards yalls retirement.Hope this helps and he stays seizure freeJoe
Oh and A regular EEG can be
Submitted by just_joe on Tue, 2016-11-01 - 21:45
Oh and A regular EEG can be tricky at times. I had 20-25 different EEG's that all came back normal. It was that one EEG that was a little longer and which I fell asleep in that showed abnormalities. Also for all we know the EEG may not have found the irregularities because they might be deeper in his brain then the probes will get.So the neurologist is being careful tooJoe
OK wife that doesn't want to
Submitted by just_joe on Tue, 2016-11-01 - 21:40
OK wife that doesn't want to be nervousIt could have been a one time thing. It does happen. weaning someone off meds is done slowly. The reason is because they can stop the weaning and go back one step and his seizures could be controlled at that point.. Also understand that seizure medications are nothing like other medications where one you take it it's gone in a few hours. It took time for the therapeutic levels to built in his body. Generally that is 3-4 weeks after starting it. So the last pill he takes it will take a little while for the therapeutic levels to be completely out of his system. My cousin had gone 5 years without any seizures and the neurologist started weaning her off meds. She had a seizure just lower the half the amount she had been on. so they backed it up one notch. She didn't have seizures as long as she took the meds and that went on for many years. So just watch and keep track of anything that happens different during the days in case he has a seizure. Hopefully it is a one time thing and he has no problems while being weaned off the keppra..Relax and just be yourself and he should be fine.Oh and it is nice to see that you both have been sober for a year at least. It saves you a little money which you spent on keppra. But you may have that to spend on other things or put it towards yalls retirement.Hope this helps and he stays seizure freeJoe