Dawn,
Jonathon's complaint about his head feeling "funny" is a clue to the puzzle. Ask him some questions and you might find out which puzzle that clue fits into. Could that "funny" feeling be his description of having a simple partial seizure? Or signs he's having side effects from the amount of Keppra he's taking?
Signs the "funny" feeling could be a simple partial seizure. He is aware of the funny feelings himself. The funny feeling occurs every once in a while, lasting for just a few minutes, or less. Does the funny feeling occur in a particular area where he's located. The funny feeling occurs within a few hours before taking his next dosage of medication.
Signs the "funny" feeling could be side effects from the Keppra. The funny feeling starts shortly after he takes his next dosage amount of medication, slowly fades away, and repeats itself the next time he takes his medication. Did that funny feeling start soon after the doctor increased the dosage amount? And if so, has that funny feeling ever gone away?
If your son has never had his blood levels checked for Keppra, then I'm curious about what his neurologist is using to assume Keppra is mostly out of his system before he is due to take his next dosage of Keppra. However, if that doctor's assumption is correct, then there is another choice that could be helpful. Your son is currently taking his prescribed Keppra, twice a day, every 12 hours. Well, how about the doctor making a prescription change by lowering the dosage amount and increasing your son's multiple daily doses. Your son might be able to take a lower dosage of Keppra, three times a day, every 8 hours? If you noticed the part about `therapeutic range' in that pdf file, then you should have an idea how keeping a person's `therapeutic range' can be done with `multiple daily doses'. Some people can get their seizure controlled on one daily dose. Other people can get seizure controlled by taking medications twice-a-day, three-times-
Medication usually goes through a child's body rather quickly. Think about how many times a parent need to feed their baby to keep the baby from becoming cranky. Same idea goes for how many times a person might need to take medication to keep them from having seizures. Some people call it the "medication merry-go-round"
Please let me know if you understand what I'm trying to explain Dawn, because I sure could use some feedback on this reply. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask them.
Thank you.
Bruce
--- In epilepsy@yahoogroup
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> Bruce,
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> That's interesting, because our neuro told us that Keppra is mostly out of his system by the time it's time for the next dosage. Jonathon has been taking it for almost 2 years, and has never had his blood levels checked. That said, Jonathon has also been seizure free for about a year and 4 months. However, about a week ago, Jonathon complained that his head felt "funny", and questioning him, it had been feeling "funny" occasionally for about a week. When I called his neuro, we were told to add half a pill (250 mg) at night, but that the neuro was concerned because Jonathon's dosage was getting quite high.
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> Thanks for the info!
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> Dawn
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