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keppra vs. topamax

Sun, 12/23/2007 - 15:06
i'm a 28 year old woman diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy when i was 16 - and have been on depakote since. my doctor has, of course, always told me that i should let him know when i'm thinking about getting pregnant. well, it's now within a couple of years of wanting to get pregnant...so i decided to switch over to lamictal. in the last couple of months, i've been ramping up lamictal and decreasing depakote. lamictal and i did not agree so well. so, my doctor has suggested to look at keppra vs topamax -- any thoughts???

Comments

Topamax v. Keppra

Submitted by carstarly on Fri, 2007-12-28 - 18:04

Hi! I am a 25 year old woman who was also diagnosed with petite mal epilepsy when I was about 3. I have been on depikote but got off of it due to weight gain. I have tried both Topamax and Keppra. Of the two I liked topamax the best. Although the side effects: numbness, cognitive problems (forgetting & "the stupids"), loss of apitite etc will away with in a couple of weeks. I decided to slowly decrese the topamax and get on Keppera (i felt like it had stopped working after 5 years on it). I had not fully gotten off of topamax but was on a higher dose of keppera when I started to have severe panic attacks, uncontrollable crying for no reason, I worried about nothing. I couldn't breathe I felt like I was going crazy. I immeadiately got off keppra, but my doc said that I would have more panic attacks from the withdrawl of Keppra and gave me a seditive to take if one happened.

I am now on Topamax and Lamictal and have gotten along fine with it; besides the insomia and my skin is really ichy with the lamictal.As for panic attacks, I haven't had a HUGE one since I got off of keppera.

However different people react to different drugs.

I hope that helps!

Hi! I am a 25 year old woman who was also diagnosed with petite mal epilepsy when I was about 3. I have been on depikote but got off of it due to weight gain. I have tried both Topamax and Keppra. Of the two I liked topamax the best. Although the side effects: numbness, cognitive problems (forgetting & "the stupids"), loss of apitite etc will away with in a couple of weeks. I decided to slowly decrese the topamax and get on Keppera (i felt like it had stopped working after 5 years on it). I had not fully gotten off of topamax but was on a higher dose of keppera when I started to have severe panic attacks, uncontrollable crying for no reason, I worried about nothing. I couldn't breathe I felt like I was going crazy. I immeadiately got off keppra, but my doc said that I would have more panic attacks from the withdrawl of Keppra and gave me a seditive to take if one happened.

I am now on Topamax and Lamictal and have gotten along fine with it; besides the insomia and my skin is really ichy with the lamictal.As for panic attacks, I haven't had a HUGE one since I got off of keppera.

However different people react to different drugs.

I hope that helps!

I was also diagnosed with

Submitted by melaniekay26 on Sat, 2008-01-19 - 21:29
I was also diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy 2 years ago, I'm now 23. But they originally started me on Depakote for about 3 weeks, I had such a bad reaction to that they took me off right away, and put me on topamax.  I had no problems with it for a couple months, except that I had no appetite and I went from a size 10 to a 2 without even trying.  And then I started with bad anxiety, and mood swings, and I also had the "dopamax" going on.  I was wicked spacey and forgot everything, so after about a year I couldn't take the side effects anymore, so for the past year I've been on Keppra, I gained all my weight back, no more mood swings either, so side effects wise I feel 10 times better,  the only crappy thing is that about 6 months ago I started having grand mal seizures, which they never thought I would have,  I was supposed to outgrow this type of epilepsy, but I actually just had my 3rd gm 2 nights ago.  So they just upped my dose of keppra and still no negative side effects, and i'm hoping that it will control the gm seizures.  So that's my experience with the both meds.  I hope it helps you.

Re: I was also diagnosed with

Submitted by todub on Sun, 2008-03-09 - 23:45
I have taken both meds and neither of them worked out for me. I was diagnosed with complex partial epilepsy in August 07. I was put on Keppra in September of 07 about three weeks into it Keppra basically turned me into a violent person and I am very calm. I have heard it works for a lot of people, but I was not one of them. I personally would not recommend it. Topamax I have taken for about 4 months now and I am going to switch to another medication soon because I am extremely tired all day and have lost 25 pounds on it. (granted I am a 6'6" male, but I was faily skinny before I started taking it. I went from 205 to 180.) Because of Keppra I often forget to eat or don't want to at all and before ever having taking it I could and would eat more than any person me and any of my family or friends knew. They both had their down sides for me, neither one of them worked out. If I had to choose one I would go with Topamax definitely, because Keppra I nearly choked someone out in public who I knew fairly well and really didnt have anything against. Three weeks after stopping the Keppra I was hanging out, joking around with the same guy. Keep in mind that everyone is effected differently though. Hope this helped.

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