Hi everyone. It has been a long time since my last visit to the site. My question is.... I have been on Keppra for the past 9 months. In the beginning my thoughts were ; Hey ! I might like this new med.
But now the thought is changing. I was on Dilantin for 25 years and started to have some break through seizures........ Blahhh ! Thank goodness, not tonic clonic again, but still temporal lobe.
This started the change. I don't know if everything I am experiencing was going to happen anyways but I have finger joint swelling , muscle cramping. Mostly leg, foot and hand's. My Neuro says maybe it was masked, ( the cramping ) from taking dilantin and it only showed up after being taken off it and it was part of the stroke effects.
Who knows, all I know is I am 53, - 26 years post rupture, new med.'s and lot's of new things showing up.
Is it age OR is it change of med.'s / nobody seems to have answers. I was told by my DR. we would speak again in the fall, and if I would like to try Lamictal, I could. But I read and listen to side effects and " I don't know "
Has anyone on Keppra had any of this ? ? ?
ANYONE
As bad as dilantin is for being old, I was waaay more clear headed, alert, and slept better. Darn those break through's.
I am 65 and started Keppra about a year ago. I was on Dilantin for 20 years, then stopped that, Had another seizure and given dilantin. Had an allergy to it then, so they changed to Tegretol. Was on that for 25 years. Both of those are hard on the liver, so I changed to Keppra. I already was having signs of arthritis in my fingers and I have swollen joints at times, so I cannot say the Keppra caused any of that. I feel better than when i took the others. Not much help. Hope you figure it out.
Hi Rancher I have been on Keppra for 5 months now. In the beginning it made me feel off balance and quite strange and moody so I decided to cut out caffeine just to see if it made a difference. I take it at exactly the same time twice a day and now drink decaf coffee. Its better without caffeine for sure. I think I may have gained a couple of kilos, not sure if thats Keppra, probably I'd say as I take no other meds. I haven't tried any of the others so can't compare. My brother who had a brain tumour is on Tegretol and has been for 5 years as a precaution and has no problem with it. My dose is 500mg twice a day.
Hi Rancher, I've only been taking Keppra for just under 2 years but have had no noticeable side affects but I know this is a short time to be on it. I also performed a search for you on Keppra and you can browse the results via the link below :
I would stay on the Kepra. I’m sorta having the same thing going on only it’s not parts of my body cramping up, I’ll just zone out which causes me to loose my short term memory. I’ve talked to my doctor about it & he did an EEG to see if I was having mini seizures & I was. He told me the Kepra is the only thing keeping me from having a full on seizure so I have to stay on it now.
I don't know if this helps but I'm currently on Keppra and It has minimum side effects overall because it's been on the market for so long. I would definitely look into it if you are unsure about Lamictal. Hope that helps