Our son has been on brand name Keppra for over 5 years.  He has had many brain surgeries for his epilepsy and has a VNS. The brand name Keppra worked well. He still had occasional breakthrough seizures but they were mostly simple partial and he was able to stop a large number of them with his VNS magnet. The violent tonic-clonic were rare since the surgeries. We were hopeful that we would not have any more of the violent tonic-clonic seizures that were so frequent before the surgeries, the many episodes of status epilepticus and the post-ictal psychosis. His quality of life was improved greatly with Keppra. Then in November he was switched to the generic Mylan brand Keppra by the pharmacist. He told us we didn't have a choice! He told us to " take it or leave it." Our son started to have violent seizures again within a week and they continued for months until he finally was put back on the name brand Keppra. Even after going off the generic brand, he still had violent seizures and the epileptologist switched him last week to Keppra XR and the new Vimpat. We started the Keppra XR this past Tuesday, and the Vimpat will be started/added  this coming Tuesday. The pharmacy in filling the new keppra XR again gave us generic medication but I was able to catch this appalling action before I left the pharmacy. The pharmacy then filled the XR with regular brand name Keppra. I refused that as well and left very upset without the medication our son was prescribed. We have since then gotten the correct medication but today I realized that they gave the incorrect number of pills for what the doctor ordered. It has been a very bad experience dealing with our local pharmacy since November. They neither care about what our son has gone through to try to control these seizures and the pain and suffering they are putting him/us  through nor do they care what the epileptologist prescribes. They constantly blame the epileptologist who is the head of a comprehensive epilepsy center in a very large city for making the errors!  It appears that  they are only interested in saving money for the pharmacy. We live in a rural area where there is only 1 pharmacy within 10 miles.  We have learned since November that switching to generic should only be done with the ok of the doctor prescribing the Keppra and that blood work should be done before the switch and about 2 weeks after to make sure the levels are correct and there are no side effects. Our son has always been very sensitive to any changes in dosing or time of dosing. I did not think that anything like this would ever happen to him after all he is a volunteer and a HOPE Mentor for the Epielpsy Foundation and had to experience first hand what we have been hearing from many in our support groups...going to generic is not always a good thing. It saves money for the pharmacy and the insurance company but can cost someone their life which it has already done. Thankfully our son is off the generic now but we have to deal with this inept pharmacy staff who are arrogant and do not ever apologize for their actions since they feel they are justified. Some things are legal but misreading a prescription is not acceptable nor is rudeness. Do not tolerate it and always check your medication before you pay for it.  I am happy that some of you are satisfied with it, but many others cannot take it but it is forced on them.  As you know epilepsy medication works differently on different people. good luck to all who are thinking of making the switch.

I started taking the generic two months ago since it's now the only thing medicaid will pay for in the state of Texas. I haven't noticed any differences between it and the original Keppra. I know there is probably just enough variable between the generic and the name brand that it will affect some people, but I'm on the maximum dosage of 5000 mg daily and I haven't seen a change and no new side effects have come up either. I've stayed seizure free for the two months I've been on it so far.

 Just to mention since many others are only on Keppra alone, I'm also on Carbatrol and lorazepam (Ativan) for the seizures which may be a keyy factor in my reactions to it. The combination of the three has been the most potent of all I have ever been on and has no adverse side effects. It has been able to keep me seizure free for over two years and I have loved it. Although I must mention, with the variations of the side effects on the people who use it, you basically have to try it out and see if it has any adverse side effects on you. Hope it works as well for you!!!

I started taking the generic made by Mylan I stated having AWFUL side effects. I would not recommend it.