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[kissa_mau]

I have had bad experiences with side effects with just about any drug and right now I'm looking at switching to a new anti-epileptic. Has anyone had any experiences with drugs either making them stupid, or not making them stupid. Topamax is a nightmare, but I've gained 20 pounds on the valproic acid. I'd rather be fluffy than stupid though, with this line of work.

Any experience with Keppra?

Any thoughts?

[ms_turtle]

No experience with Keppra but I've been on lamictal which is an anti-epileptic but also used for depression and bipolar. I didn't notice any side effects, nor any positive effects.

[gennimom]

Um, we call Keppra "evil in a bottle."

If it works, it works great, but GD became evil personified on the stuff. He actually refused to take care of Genni because he was afraid of what he might do to her. She was only a few months old to 8 months old during the time he took it. He finally got a week-long EEG study where he had to quit taking it, and everybody in the hospital noticed his change in personality. The doc said one spouse of a patient told them to get her husband off the stuff or she was divorcing him.

Have you tried Trileptal? GD is on that and Topomax. The Trileptal works really well for him.

[dr_seuss]

My son (2 yrs old and not yet speaking) has taken Keppra for the past year or so.  We started him on Keppra (monotherapy along with ketogenic diet) after trying Klonopin (just made him very sleepy all day), Tegretol, and Topamax.  Since he doesn't talk it's hard to say much about the side effects, but I do know that he seems much more alert on the Keppra, and we've noticed no other effects from it except perhaps a decrease in seizure activity (kiddo has 10-30 seizures a day right now, which is a major improvement over his previous seizure count). 

GD's experience sounds downright scary, and is certainly cause for caution, but in general I think Keppra is supposed to work pretty well for many people with a fairly low incidence of side effects.  FWIW. 

[gennimom]

One doctor told us that Keppra "didn't do that". But the one who saw him during his time in the hospital said it can happen. It is just very rare.

It is just something to watch for. I know I used to wonder why I was getting attacked (verbally) for no apparent reason by GD, and there were times he came very close to hitting me. That is NOT normal for him. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. Somebody had replaced GD with this monster I did NOT recognize. He had absolutely NO impulse control. He got off the Keppra and we could have a conversation again without it devolving into a screaming match.

What a relief!

[dr_seuss]

GM,
Apparently your husband wasn't alone in having this kind of reaction to Keppra, although it does seem kind of unusual.  I did some looking a second ago, and there's at least one article in PubMed about an adolescent developing "acute psychosis" on Keppra, and www.crazymeds.org (a useful site despite its name) refers to something called "Keppra rage."  It also shows up in discussion boards on www.epilepsy.com too.  Who knew?

But KM, regarding your initial question, my understanding is that Keppra is one of the few AEDs that tends to increase alertness rather than make one feel foggy or stupid or sleepy. 

[gennimom]

"Keppra rage." That's a good term for it. 24 hours a day.

Ugh.

[kissa_mau]

Great. This is all really helpful. I have a new doctor that might actually consider my input on what I go on next, so I'm a little excited. She mentioned lamictal also.

GM- the Keppra rage sounds awful! I don't know what I would do if my husband started acting that wacky from a medicine.

[gennimom]

Great. This is all really helpful. I have a new doctor that might actually consider my input on what I go on next, so I'm a little excited. She mentioned lamictal also.

GM- the Keppra rage sounds awful! I don't know what I would do if my husband started acting that wacky from a medicine.

Um, you wouldn't let it go for 5-6 months before you demanded they take him off! What was so bad was, GD knew it wasn't normal, but he didn't know what was going on. When he came off, it was so obvious in retrospect. But we didn't have a fora where we could ask other people's experiences!

[onion]

Clonazepam makes me a little sleepy, but not stupid.  It's literally changed my life, FWIW, but it doesn't work for everyone.  I couldn't handle Topamax.

[cgfunmathguy]

I don't know about the others, but I was on lamictal (brand name: Lamotrigine) for a while. I did not have "alertness" problems, but I did develop a metallic taste when drinking water (even bottled, distilled water) and a propensity to bruise easily. Bumping (ever so gently) into something while walking would cause a bruise. My mother asked me once if I had been in a fight because of the bruises on my arms. The bruising was a known side effect, but the metallic taste was not.

[one_step]

My daughter is on Zonegran (Zonisamide) and doesn't seem to have any side effects.  In fact, she is 15 months old and never naps.  But she also can't tell me how it makes her feel, so this may not be helpful.  As I understand it, Zonegran is relatively new and I hadn't seen anyone mention it.  Might be worth asking about.

[assessment_lady]

I don't know about the others, but I was on lamictal (brand name: Lamotrigine) for a while. I did not have "alertness" problems, but I did develop a metallic taste when drinking water (even bottled, distilled water) and a propensity to bruise easily. Bumping (ever so gently) into something while walking would cause a bruise. My mother asked me once if I had been in a fight because of the bruises on my arms. The bruising was a known side effect, but the metallic taste was not.

I've been on Lamictal for almost 3 years now, and I love it.  I did have the metallic taste at first, but it went away after awhile (or I got used to it!  But whatever, I don't notice it any more.).  I haven't noticed any other side effects, and it works great for me!
I was on Topamax for awhile, and let me tell you...whew!  Was I a mean son (daughter?  That doesn't rhyme as well.) of a gun?  Heck yes!  I actually got into a fist fight with a coworker one time because I didn't like the way she asked me to do something.  I was constantly flying off the handle at everyone.  And I felt like brain juice was dripping from my cerebellum at all times.  Not a pleasant feeling.

[sikora]

I'm doing very well on Lamictal for bipolar II, and have no side effects at all.  I haven't had an episode of mixed-state mania since I've been taking it.  I also take a relatively small dose of quetiapine, lower than the accepted clinical dose. My psychiatrist is German, and tends to be more conservative than American psychiatrists, and less likely to use a prescribing "rubric." I take buspiron, too, and that has been very helpful.

[altie]

I take Lamictal, Tegretol Retard and Keppra.

I started with taking the Tegretol Retard, and originally, I was exhausted all the time. I have never slept so much in my life. This got better after about six months, but I did get mood swings (although, not so bad I couldn't control them - I was not irrational, and just learnt that when I was in a bad mood it was good to go for a walk, take some time out etc). The Lamictal was introduced about 8 months ago and I spent four weeks feeling like I had snorted coke. It was very productive, except I couldn't concentrate for more than a couple of seconds. The Keppra was then introduced about four months ago, and, I still get the 'hyped out' feeling a lot, and struggle to sleep often, but otherwise I feel great.

I was told that if you are a young woman (and planning on having children / maybe getting pregnant) Lamictal is one of the safest drugs, if not the safest.