Tuesday, July 21, 2009

[epilepsy] Re: Brand-new with Keppra questions...

 

Hi,
I actually have only been dealing with this for the past six months but Kepra was the first drug that they tried with my husband. He saw 4 different neuro's in the ER and all agreed that Kepra had the best success rate across the board and started him on it before he left the hospital. We had a horrible experience with it. He became angry and stayed that way all the time....we have been married for 14 years and fought the most that we had ever fought in the 4 weeks that he was on the drug. The weird part about it is that he didn't even realize that he was angry- he said things to me that were so uncharactaristically mean and not like him that I actually thought he might have some kind of brain damage from the seizures!!!... He blamed me for being a "*##!@" and told me that I was making things worse for him....within the first 2 weeks i made a call to the Dr. and at first they told us to give his body more time to adjust- we waited another week and still no better-they reduced his dose-told us to wait another week and still no better so finally she agreed to switch him and within 2 days of being off the meds he was much better. They tried Depakote but he got a rash so now he is on Dilantin ....makes him feel crappy but his mood is better =)
--- In epilepsy@yahoogroups.com, Liz Welker <lizard110366@...> wrote:
>
> Hey, everyone. :)
>  
> I am a 42 yo mom who has had epi since infancy. For about 1/2-2/3 of my life, I have been on phenobarb, which has always controlled my GMs 100%, thank God (when I was on it), but I also have simple partials (which rarely generalize to GM; haven't in 3 years! :) ). My SPs will cluster from triggers like weather fronts, hormonal yin-yang, or disturbed sleep. Phenobarb, unfortunately, has never controlled them. I started taking magnesium a year and a half ago, and it helps, but it can take the cluster down to about 12 szs from what were as many as 30 or 40 over a period of a day to a day and a half. My post-ictal blahs are generally not as bad as they were prior to starting daily mag, but I just had a bout with a cluster on Saturday, and I have only slept about 3 hours a night since! :(
>  
> I know the sleep disruption is a classic manifestation (for me, at least) of these things, but it has never been this long before. I also get a fever and pasty/metallic taste in my mouth with decreased appetite and occasional nausea/vomiting after they end or are ending. The fever can last a couple of days, and the crappy taste in my mouth generally will last 2-3 days. Sleep disruption would usually be only a night or so, but this has been (pardon the French) HOLY HELL. I have hardly slept since!!!
>  
> I called my doc (a neursurgeon; I have hydrocephalus), and for the third time, he suggested I consider Keppra. I have been reading up on it, and I know all drugs can be very good or very bad as well as in-between. (I had a nightmare experience with Tegretol!)
>  
> So...I come to you and ask: What are your experiences with it? Good? Bad? Ugly? Awesome?? I want it all. :)
>  
> Thanks muchly!
>  
> LIZ in RI, where we have SUN--at last!!!!!!!!!
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

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