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 Questions

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 06:03

My 11 year old son had a convulsive seizure 3 weeks ago. We had a sleep deprived eeg which was abnormal and showed signs of seizure activity. He did not have a convulsive seizure during and was talking, etc through the eeg but showed signs of it on eeg. Neurologist advised to put him on 2.5 ml Keppra twice a day for a week and then increase to 5ml twice a day. She said that is what she would do if he were her child. I agreed but once I got home and researched the drug became concerned. I had read that it could possibly cause seizures, like for example, if the dose was not fully absorbed by the body etc. also reading other bad side effects like anger, sleepiness. Now I am wondering if I should wait and see if he has a second seizure before starting the meds? I know that was an option. It is so hard because he seems so normal and maybe I am in denial? Sometimes I feel the epilepsy is like a volcano waiting to explode. Just so sick with worry.

Comments

The abnormal eeg and having

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2014-09-12 - 09:59
The abnormal eeg and having had one seizure makes the chances of additional seizures much higher. Starting treatment now probably being more reasonable than waiting for a second seizure. Some people do great with keppra, others add vitamins and do ok with it. Not all people respond similarly and those with side effects are going to be more vocal. Lots of AEDs can cause seizures if given to the wrong population or increased/decreased too fast, or other reasons they can't explain.  The other side effects of other AEDs can sound scary - not everyone has bad side effects and some minor effects are better than living with a 'volcano'.

You posted the EEG showed

Submitted by just_joe on Sat, 2014-09-13 - 11:25
You posted the EEG showed seizure activity. I person can show abnormalities and not have a seizure. All the EEG is doing is picking up the brain waves comming from the brain. So you can have abnormailities and not have a seizure. Your son could have had other seizures and you not know about them. There are 40+ different seizures and some are slight. Absence seizures look like day dreams. Partial seizures are blips in time to some people. As for Keppra..It is the best medication I have taken to control seizures in the 50+ years I have been living and dealing with epilepsy. You may read posts about the side effects and many of them would be talking about the medication giving them rage or something else. I do know that side effects do happen. All medication have them including over the counter meds. Yup asperin nasel spray you name it and it has side effects. With most medications 5-8% of the people taking it may have those side effects. You will hear nearly nothing from the pther 92-95% taking it because it is working fine for them. I know how some of those side effects get put in since I have been in some of those drug studies. We were to write down anything that happened that was different that day. Anything means anything that was different during that day and the tests were 6-12 months long. What can cause an upset stomach or a head ache? I can get those without taking the drug.  Now I do understand people who don't want to give medications to their kids or take them yourself. I was like that. Once I started taking medications I blocked pain out instead of taking a medication which could counter my AED's. So yes it is a good thing. But I also know that if he had one convulsive seizure he may have more and each seizure slows down the possiability of finding a medication that can stop all of his seizuresKeppra not only reduced the number of my seizures it also shortened the time in said seizure and the time to focus (get back to normal. Seizures that 15 years ago lasted 2-5 minutes now last 3-8 seconds. The focus time then was 15-45 minutes and at time longer is now 5-10 seconds.  Generally a neurologist will prescribe a medication that he knows will work on your sons kind of seizure. They will generally have a petient using it and the dosage will almost match the dosage his other patient is using. It does take time to get meds and dosages set. Side effects do happen and in most cases they go away after the body gets used to the medication which is generally after 2-3 weeks and in some cases a month. If his dosage is raised those side effects might happen again. As he grows the dosage will need to be checked because medications are generally set with the age and weight of the person taking it. When I was in my teen years I had to have my dosages changed 4-5 times in about 9 months. Yup as my bosdy changes and I grew the dosage needed to be changed. I went from 85lb 4'8" kid to a 135lb 5'6" teenager who wanted to rebel. Hey I hated taking medications and I wanted to do everything without really knowing what might happen. Most teens are like that. I hope this helps and your son gets seizure free

Sign Up for Emails

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