I am a 31 year old female who has suffered
from what I believe are grand-mal seizures
since I'm a little kid. Back then the
dr's tried many drugs to try and control
my seizures, such as phenobarbitol (I was
allergic to it), tegretol, topamax (made
me extremely forgetful), and finally they
found the winner which controlled my
seizures 100% and made it so I could live
a normal life. This was Depakote, which
unfortunately has all these bad side
effects. I am only 5 feet tall and I went
from 105 lbs to now 133 lbs, which is very
noticeable in my height and has badly
affected my self esteem. None of my
clothes fit and I hate to shop. Also, my
hair thinned too. Anyway, now that I am
31 I am seeing the top neurologist at LIJ
Hospital here in NY where I live. He
(along with my regular neurologist) were
dead set on me switching off the depakote,
even though it has made me seizure free
for 8 years now. That is invaluable to
me, however I do want to have kids someday
and they said this is a terrible med to be
on for that and also it has caused me to
have some bone loss in my hips. The
specialist at LIJ has decided to put me on
Keppra, switching very slowly off the
depakote along with introducing the Keppra
slowly at the same time. Now, from what I
understand, Keppra is not to be taken on
its own, but this is what he has
prescribed. I love the idea of finally
losing all this weight, but now that I
find out this med is not to be taken alone
and this specialist (with EXTREMELY high
credentials I might add) has prescribed it
that way. This makes me nervous. I do
not want to start having seizures again
after living seizure free for over 8
years. The thought scares me to death!
Has anyone here switched from Depakote to
Keppra? If so, what were your results?
Also, what can anyone tell me about Keppra
being used on its own? Is it possible for
it to be effective that way? I'm very
scared.
|
googler
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 2
... Posted: 07-08-08 22:47pm
Hey Jets Girl-
I was switched from depa to keppra as
well. I don't know what will happen since
I start tomorrow. It is a monotherapy, and
I believe it is commonly prescribed alone
as well as with other meds. How did it
work for you?
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This page was last updated on June 11, 2008
