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Keppra not working
Mon, 05/25/2015 - 15:42Please help. My son (almost 14) has been diagnosed with idiopathic generalized epilepsy with random tonic clonic seizures. We started him on Keppra and his seizures have continued despite repeated increased doses. In fact he is starting to have seizures more frequently with each dose increase. We are now in the process of weaning off Keppra and starting lamictal. Do any of you have experience with your first medication not working and the second one controlling seizures? I am having so much anxiety. Everything I have read has said that the IGE respond well to medication. Does anyone know what significance this is in terms of not getting control of his seizures?? My neuro dr (we are seen by an epilepsy specialist) stated that sometimes these seizures can be hard to control, especially in the beginning. We only started medications 6 months ago...my son is also starting puberty so I don't know if that has anytjjng to do with it. I am terrified of lamictal not working. Thank you all for your help.
You have a specialist in
Submitted by just_joe on Mon, 2015-05-25 - 16:41
You have a specialist in epilepsy which is good. Each persons epilepsy is different since all seizures are different in some ways to toher peoples. As for medications. Medications that work for one person may not for the enxt. Oh and seizure medications are not like aspirin where one size fits all. It generally takes 1-2 months for the body to get used to the medication and the therraputic levels to be built up in the body. If the dosage is cahnged then you have another time period to go thru but not as long since all that needs to be done is get the theraputic level built up. I have been on meds that didn't work right until the dosages were increased several times. I have also been on some where I had a reaction to the medication and they stopped it only to be put back on the same medication at a lower dosage which worked well for many years. Medications and dosages are trial and error with some people. Yes a person can get the medications set right and stay seizure free for long periods of time. I was diagnosed with epilepsy long before they went into specializations so I may not know about the type of epilepsy your son has. However since I was a teen when diagnosed I do know the problems I had and went thru. I do hope this helps and yes there are other medications that can control your sons seizures. Generally the neurologist puts a patient on medications he knows are working and stes the dosage levels to another patient he has that is doing well on that medication. I hope this helps and you get your son aeizure free Joe