Hi, i'm really new here. I was just diagnosed wednesday and started keppra the same day. I've been feeling exactly that way, only more tired than depressed. It usually happens a few hours after I take my nighttime dosage. I get really bad chills, and am really out of it. I get extremely nauseous too. I wasn't sure it was the medicine, but now I know what it is. Have you talked you neurologist about this?

Grace, how much keppra do you take and since you've been on this medication have you had a seizure???????? Susan]

Hello, I am rob from holland
before I start then is my advise to you to describe what of medications you use outside keppra alone. Then it is easyer to give a hint or help.

my medication is: diphantoine 100/25mg, lamictal 100mg/50mg, frisium 10mg, neurontin 400mg, keppra 250mg (after 2 weeks 500mg)

so, I used keppra too but......... After two weeks I call the specialist that I had "trouble" with unstable walking and a lot of sleep the whole day trough. So the doctor say to stop immidiately and we have to see for an other medication. I could stop immidiately because I had it 2 weeks.

I ask the doctor to let in hospital for a blood sample to see which medication are to high,or to low. Then we saw that the diphantoine was a little to high. So we decide to remove the diphantoine 25mg and see what the reaction is til now.

I must say it go's better now.
I hope you have any good information from my letter here.
Let me know if you have a other suggestion or that I can help you with it.

Remember this: epilepsy is not a complaint but an affection.

... There'll be love and laughter, and peace ever after, just you wait and see ...

hi feelgood. Here is rob from holland and I use also keppra for a month now. The symptons you have is normal by keppra. You do not describe how high the keppra is. I have 250 mg one time a day.
I take the keppra in the evening when I go to bed. Because then your body sleep and keppra can work optimal and you have no worry about a seizure. But that is a personal impression what the doctor told me.


I hope you have something on this other wise let me know by e-mail.


Greetings,
rob

Hi rob, thanks for your email...I was taking 2,000mg a day (2a.M. + 2p.M. At 500mg each)..I finally went off them and went back on neurontin...I couldn't handle the depression, it got real bad ....Anyway i'm doing better now, I still have seizures, but i'm not depressed ........Take care, s.

Hi all. Im new here. Im having seizures too, but im taking phenytoin which are totally different from what you guys are taking.

Hello Everyone:

My daughter was recently prescribed Keppra, well actually in August, I have the prescription filled on top of the refrigerator. Yet, I am afraid to give it to her. I have read that it should be taken in conjunction with other anti-seizure meds but not alone.
Nikki my daughter has grand malls every month right after her monthly cycle starts (like clockwork). She has been med free for some years now because they never seem to help, in her instance they have caused more seizures. Not Keppra, just others.
Does anyone take Keppra alone and find that it helps with Grand Mal Seizures.
Thank you all , and I wish you all the most strength you can possibly have, I really wish I could meet you all at a conference or something. Heck maybe someone knows of such a thing, I know my daughter (18yrs) would like some support and gosh knows I would too.

All the best!!!.Gina

Hello to everyone on Keppra (levatriacetam). I was on it too, 2000mg a day in conjunction with epilim (sodium valproate) 2400mg a day. I was tired on it, felt stoned on keppra when i first started, I lost balance, and i was lathargic. Not depressed that i know of. But the two medications together made me very sleepy and i was'nt a help to anyone, walking around in a daze. I could not function and my speach was not good, i always had to describe something to get the words out that i wanted to say. It was frustrating for me and others around me.
I have now been taken off keppra and i have been lowered on the epilim down to 400mg a day of epilim, but my neurologist introduced me to lamictal ( lamotringe) I am on 300mg a day and i have never felt better, I do get nausiated on lamictal at times when i first wake up, but i have learnt to eat a peppermint lolly which is a natural anti-nausia preventative, which i learnt off my chemist. Or she said that you can eat ginger. But i dont like ginger lol. and i've found that the peppermint works very well, so i always keep them on hand.
Since i have been on lamictal i can function, i get up early, and i am acctually tired when i sleep, which is wonderful, because when i first started treatment for epilepsy i was put on tegretol (cabramazapine) which kept me awake at night and i would sleep all day, i felt like my brain would never shut down.
I have never been seizure free in the 4 yrs that i have been an epileptic, but i am greatly reduced in seizures now then ever before thanks to the lamictal. I can go up to 6 weeks with out a seizure. My seizure types are Grand mal, Simple partial, Peti mal, and a mix of others. Sometimes i can have an aura, and it really is annoying because i would rather have a grandmal so i dont remember it, because auras make me feel yucky. And sometimes an aura can last a long time for me. I do not get a warning when i am going to have a grand mal, but since on lamictal i get a slight warning and i can tell the ppl around me that i feel funny and they help me get to a place comfortable. I was told by a nurse that they dont like patients on keppra, because it highers blood pressure. And when i was in hospital for a 4 day extensive VEEG the neurologists discovered that the keppra un beknown to me was giving me high anxiety just before my seizure which was not good. My neurologist does not believe in blood levels, or weight ratio, he believes on what level makes you feel better. because my experience with other doctors and my doseages have been based on weight and level ratios.
the way that my neurologist approaches dealing with epilepsy is that best levels in blood arent nessecary in what you are taking in the drugs. Althought i might just add that lamictal is very good for women, it doesnt inteffer with the pill, and women on lamictal can safely get pregnant.
where as women on Epilim (sodium valproate) is not a good drug for women in high doesages because there is risk of polysystic overy syndrome and birth defects. Even though i am on epilim also my neurologist has me take folic acid every day 5mg in the morning, to make sure that i have regular cycles.
I hope this information helps some of you.
Regards
Sami

funny u r all on here .....LOL

i find it bizarre that epileptics should be no where near a computer at anytime especially in the case of severe epileptics

yet u r on here comlaining bout the medications not working

go figure!!!!

Hello everyone!

I'm new to the site. I actually found it as I was looking up side affects for Keppra. Since I started keppra my family has noticed a big difference in my behavior. I was taken off depakote 6 months ago and put on 2000 mg of keppra a day. At first I didn't notice the side affects, but just today I woke up and realized that I have not been myself since I started this med. I am very emotional, very deppressed, angry, and I'm crying at the drop of a dime, and my relationship with my family is suffering. I'm looking for some support, advice, and guidance! Please help me!

sicerely,
cubby

I have been on Keppra since Dec. 2004, I switched from Lamictal b/c the Lamictal affected my hearing. Since being on Keppra 1/day 500mg at night (only med taken for my seizures) I've gone 4 yrs w/out a seizure up until recently. I have some anxiety, I am easily agitated, get angry, depressed about life (mainly due to my everyday struggles at work) I have a stressful marketing career. Of course, i worry about where my life is going and being single - all of which is probably not seizure-related, but doesn't help me either. I too would like to get support in Tampa FL. Is there anyone else out there struggling like me? I pretty much lead a normal life

Sami,

Thanks for your post, alot of useful information.

I have had epilepsy for the last 2 years. I had my first grand mal in Apr 2006, put straight onto Epilim (1000mg twice daily), had 3 more grand mals and a couple of petit mals in the year following.

I am now on Epilim and Keppra. 500mg Ep and 1000mg Kep morning (taken at midday) and 500mg of each in the evening (taken at midnight). I was told it does not matter what time you take it as long as they are 12 hours apart.

Since having Epilepsy I always get my words muddled up, and often find it difficult to find the words, to express myself, often getting quite worked up !!!!! I also get a ringing sensation in my ears. I do not know if this is related to Epilim or the Epilepsy itself.

Since I started Keppra I have not had a seizure, but in the last 2 months I have had really bad dizzy spells, I am wondering if this is anything to do with Keppra. The thing is I do not know if the dizziness is a side effect or an Aura.

I had an episode where I felt really dizzy, thought I was going to have a seizure, but ended up sitting down, hyperventilating and had a terrible headache which lasted 1 week. I don't know if this is Epilepsy related or a panic attack / Migraine or side effect. This is all so frustrating.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it. It is great to hear from peple with first hand experiences of Epilepsy and the drugs prescibed for it.

Thanks for reading through my overly long post. Hope I didn't bore you too much

James

Does anyone have anything to say thats good about this drug?
I am on Lamictal but it does not controll the seizures so he wants to add this.
I am not sure what to do, I have done so many drugs I am not sure if it is worth it.
I already not sleep and nausia seems to haunt me so I am not sure if this will make it worse or help. Help!

Carm