Which med. for 4 yr old? Topamax, Depakote or Keppra?

Hi, I am new here but would like to share my story with you. I have a 3 year old (almost 4) on topomax, my other choices were depekote and keppra, ny neuro suggested them in that order. Anyway my son is on topomax he weighs 35 pounds and is currently taking 60 mg a day and he turned into a TERROR, hiting, biting, SSSSSOOOOOO hyper and not listening at all, I am going to call his neuro and ask for a change. I have been asking around also and people are saying all meds can change the behavior so I dont know what to tell you to do, just wanted you to know you arent alone, I am also having the same problems. My son is also speech delayd and topamax seems to make him have a really hard time finding the right words, but everyone reacts different. Was I any help? Sorry I am new to this. Take care

I do not have small children with seizures, but I did just lose the love of my life to complications from cancer treatment and he had been on Keppra and Depakote with every horrible side effect mentioned in the brochures. I think Depakote finally destroyed his liver/pancreatic functions. Of course, the dosage was much higher. Topamax is manufactured by the same company in Puerto Rico that makes Depakote. I was online researching their harmful effects, trying to make sense of his rapid decline (about 5 days after going on Depakote) when I saw this site and read the comments about children. Just wondering if anyone here has stepped outside traditional medicine for a whole health or integrative health specialist to check out natural treatments that don't have side effects. I recommend mercola.com or Health Solutions Institute (HSI) for online info and I would definitely look in your area for a different viewpoint outside of traditional medicine (ie medical doctors with ties to pharmaceutical companies). Asking for their opinions about natural solutions will only irritate them because they have no knowledge of anything other than the standard protocol of throwing synthetic meds at the problem and they will probably view your questions as contesting their abilities.(That's the reaction I got) Use the internet. It's your child's life and you have every right to look at every option for the best solution. Best of luck. I hope you find a better answer.

Paige, I don't know if you have moved onto a new medicine yet or not but I just wanted to tell you my daugthers experiences with Keppra and Depakote... I know each and every child is different so don't take what I say as anything more than an experience. My daugther Kaitlyn (2 now) started taking Keppra before her 2nd birthday, she turned into a terror. Started to have slowing in her thinking and just didn't act like her normal happy self. She started to throw horrible fits and just act out all of the time. We ended up taking her off of it after a few weeks and the behaviors just getting worse. We moved onto Zonegran but she developed a rash from it. Anyway, she moved on to Trileptal after the Zonegran. And her behavior was fine but she developed a new kind of seizure and was having several a day from it. We stopped the Trileptal and moved onto a different doctor. We met with an Epilepsy specialist, and they put her on Depakote. So far so good. She hasn't had any behavior side effects. She does still have some seizures but her Complex Partials are controlled really well. She has developed several different types of seizures since the start of the journey, so we are actually getting ready to start the Topomax at nights to see if that helps. I also know another mother I met on here, her daugther has Complex Partials and is on Topomax now after being taken off of Keppra due to behavior issues and she said that her daugther seems to be so much better and hasn't had any seizures since starting it. So I think both of them sound good. Your son sounds alot like mine, who we are trying to get confirmed that he is having seizures too. Do you mind if I ask what his sensory issues are like? Has he been diagnosed with Autism? And did you know about the stroke right away? Or did it take time to find it? My son has right side weakness, lacks his pincer grasp reflex, walks funny, has musle tightness in the left side, alot of sensory issues, trying to get him diagnosed with Autism right now, speech delay, motor delay and I almost certain seizures.....He's only 1 though. Hope everything is going well!! Take care! Emily