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When will topamax kick in?

Fri, 04/28/2017 - 09:00
Hi I was diagnosed with epilepsy earlier this week and have complex partial seizures several times a week. I just started a low does of topamax adding 25 mg a week. I was just wondering when will it start to help?

Comments

Seizure medications are not

Submitted by just_joe on Fri, 2017-04-28 - 12:29
Seizure medications are not like aspirin where once taken it is gone in a few hours. They are starting on a low dosage so you may not have side effects. It can be raised a little at a time to where it is controlling or stopping your seizures. To much medication is just as bad as to little. So it may take time for the therapeutic levels to get where your doctor wants them. The medications can start working within a day after they are started but that does not mean all of your seizures will be stopped. It means that some can be stopped. Get this and use it    EF My Seizure Diary  It has a note pad in it so you can note anything that is different on any day. Note your seizures if you have any. Give your neurologist permission to bring it up and they can use the information in it and look at the graphs to come up with dosage changes or other procedures that can help control your seizures... 

Hi, thanks for the info, I am

Submitted by Sophie2017 on Fri, 2017-04-28 - 16:38
Hi, thanks for the info, I am wondering how to delete the post as it shows my google account name     Instead

You can read all you want and

Submitted by just_joe on Sat, 2017-04-29 - 10:21
You can read all you want and look at this or that. But each person is different and their seizures are different. Now understand that it takes time for  the therapeutic levels to build in the body. 2 weeks is not enough time for those levels to build. So he is trying to get those levels set before increasing the dosage. Understand that a gradual increase is better then increasing it only to have to much medication. To much medication is just as bad as to little and it is harder to reduce the amounts because the therapeutic levels are in the body and after taking the last pill it will take 3-4 weeks for that amount to go out of the body. The therapeutic levels are there to keep a breakthrough seizure from happening if a dosage is taken late or forgotten. It takes about 3-4 weeks for the therapeutic levels to bails in the body so please understand that the neurologist knows what he is doing. He generally had a patient on that medication that is about the same size and age. It is hard for you to see your son having a seizure or worry about him. But in order to verify that keppra is working it needs to be up to the therapeutic levels before increasing or decreasing the dosage.Keppra is the best seizure medication I have used and believe me I have used many in the 50+ years I have been living with epilepsy and seizures. Like I said each persons seizure is different just like each person is different. We all weigh differently and are different sizes and colors and all eat different foods. So please give it time to build in his body. then about a month to verify that it is working. If my neurologist and I made changes to dosages or medications I would generally have a visit 2-3 months after the change was made. One month for the therapeutic levels to build and the second month to see if there was a reduction. After that then adjustments could or would be made. Just so you'll know the amount of keppra your son is now taking is less then one tablet I take in the morning. I currently take 4500 mgs a day. Which equates to 3 - 750mg tabs morning and night. All of my neurologists since 1971 have been saying I am taking the highest dosage they have ever put someone on. While they have people with the same seizures and epilepsy only need the lowest dosage.

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