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medication

Sun, 03/17/2019 - 10:04
Hi, I haven't been on here before, but needing some advice pls I was diagnosed with a brain tumour 9yrs ago-which is when my epilepsy kicked off! I have simple partial seizures which is mostly controlled, I do however have 'mini' ones recently mainly mornings-im on 3000mg keppra a day and 200mg lamactil, I have not seen a specialist nurse since been putting on these ( started with tegretol but didn't work) my question is should I go back and talk about increase current meds or try something else? I've heard there are many tablets out there but never really explored this, so if I were to change would I be weened off current meds and seizures get worse or do they just up your current meds? I live in rural area so driving would be an issue if I started from scratch ..not sure what to do! any advice would be great

Comments

lorienlouise,I'm not sure

Submitted by birdman on Sun, 2019-03-17 - 17:44
lorienlouise,I'm not sure what the upper dosages are for Lamictal or for Keppra so I do not know just how far they may push the dosages on any one of these before they consider trying another one.  Like you pointed out there are many different medications for seizure control.  But if a half dozen different medications fail to provide control then this is where you need to see a specialist who may be able to help you with some alternative treatment.  Statistics suggest drug therapy works to comfortably and completely control seizures in about %70 of patients.  There still is a chance for you that meds may work, but it's time for you to ask about alternatives.

I think that 3000mg of Keppra

Submitted by Athena_5ce4563aba984 on Thu, 2019-06-13 - 15:35
I think that 3000mg of Keppra is about the highest dose. I think that my leaflet (comes with the medication) says that the majority of people don't take more than 400mg of Lamictal.If you change drugs, the usual thing is for the current one(s) to be gradually decreased, and the new one gradually introduced. I was supposedly changing from Keppra to Lamictal (lamotrigine) at a rate of a 250mg decrease per fortnight for the Keppra and 25 mg increase per fortnight for the Lamictal. Unfortunately I reacted badly to the Lamictal, and couldn't tolerate the side efects after a certain dose and number of weeks on it, so I'm being weaned off it and back onto the Keppra (which gave me its own lovely set of side effects). The idea is that you should get some protection from the first drug while you see if the second one is tolerated, and if you do it slowly, the body can both adjust and you can also see if things are going wrong before they suddenly get serious.

I think that 3000mg of Keppra

Submitted by Athena_5ce4563aba984 on Thu, 2019-06-13 - 15:37
I think that 3000mg of Keppra is about the highest dose. I think that my leaflet (comes with the medication) says that the majority of people don't take more than 400mg of Lamictal.If you change drugs, the usual thing is for the current one(s) to be gradually decreased, and the new one gradually introduced. I was supposedly changing from Keppra to Lamictal (lamotrigine) at a rate of a 250mg decrease per fortnight for the Keppra and 25 mg increase per fortnight for the Lamictal. Unfortunately I reacted badly to the Lamictal, and couldn't tolerate the side efects after a certain dose and number of weeks on it, so I'm being weaned off it and back onto the Keppra (which gave me its own lovely set of side effects). The idea is that you should get some protection from the first drug while you see if the second one is tolerated, and if you do it slowly, the body can both adjust and you can also see if things are going wrong before they suddenly get serious.

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