Venting Keppra

[orchidteeth]

I am posting this mainly to see if any of you have had any experience with Keppra(Levetiracetam). It is an anti seizure medication, as I had 2 seizures for seemingly no reason a few weeks ago. Since starting this medication, I would say it hass worsened my depression ten fold. It causes me to fixate on death and the thought that I'm gonna die one way or another, and it makes everything feel pointless. I've had horrible depression for years, but the first 2 days after I began Keppra were probably the worst depressive episodes I've ever had. I'd like to here if anyone else has experienced this. I called the doctor and begged him to take me off this medication, but seens he deemed me as not "actively seeking suicide," I must continue to take it...

 

[Fucking loving it]

Keppra is a nightmare. My daughter had seizures and the neurologist put her on it. My daughter was about 8 (mentally and physically 9 mo to 3 years). She was so agitated she pulled a fucking tooth out. She was was out of control. Keppra is fucking evil.

 

[orchidteeth]

Keppra is a nightmare. My daughter had seizures and the neurologist put her on it. My daughter was about 8 (mentally and physically 9 mo to 3 years). She was so agitated she pulled a fucking tooth out. She was was out of control. Keppra is fucking evil.

I'm sorry to hear that. I definitely think it's caused my impulse control to go lower than it already was.

 

[EndofMyRope]

I'd been on Keppra for years before I moved and started with a new neurologist. One of the first things she told me was that depression was a major side effect of Keppra. Would have been wonderful if the first neuro picked up on it... :(

 

[Mud.]

Contact your doctor again and ask him if he has considered giving you Briviact and if not, why not.
It might be that he has little experience with it. It is relatively new compared to Keppra and is prescribed less often.
Of course Briviact has side effects too but far less mental side effects.
It's also stronger overall.

Quote from Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brivaracetam

"Positive preliminary results from stage III trials were recorded in 2008, along with evidence that it is around 10 times more potent for the prevention of certain types of seizure in mouse models than its analogue levetiracetam."

Personal experience...
I've been on Keppra for years but always in combination with other antiepileptics.
While I was using it my cocktail per day was,

4X Keppra 500 mg
2X Lamotrigine 100 mg
2X Depakine Chrono 500 mg.

I had/have lots of side effects from all of them but Keppra was the worst.
It depressed the hell out of me. It worsened my insomnia and was responsible for a couple of other rather unpleasant side effects.

Since it still worked better than the cocktail I had before I started taking Keppra, my neurologist didn't want to switch anymore.
So I switched neurologists and now I'm no longer on Keppra :)

It has been replaced by Briviact in my cocktail.
Which works better on every front for me. It has its own side effects of course but I much prefer them when compared to those of Keppra.
My current cocktail per day is,

2X Briviact 100 mg
2X Lamotrigine 100 mg
2X Depakine Chrono 500 mg

 

[ArtsyDrawer]

I'm dealing with epilepsy. 1500 keppra, 200 vimpat twice a day.
It took me a while to notice that I'm experiencing "kepprage".
I'm a lot angrier than I remember myself being before I got on it. It's not hulking out kind of rage, which is what I expected when I first heard of the idea, it's honest, intimate anger at everything. People use "strangle them with my own two hands" as a way to describe a more hulking out, table throwing anger. Maybe it's true to some people. I've been told I became scary to approach.
I'm ridiculously shy, so me being scary sounds like some sci-fi bullshit.
First time I really noticed it was when I was working with an ass oriented pervert and genuinely almost killed him. Caught myself reaching out to literally strangle him.
Stopped myself only because cops would be called.

Also, my memory is absolute garbage. A goldfish has better memory than I do. Seriously, the mythbusters (iirc) checked this myth. A goldfish legitimately has better memory than I do, which is roughly a week. Even that's for "big things", e.g my father having to move to a dormitory style thing. In a week I'll remember it as if he always lived there. Surviving that one with a checklist app.
The only good thing, I suppose, about this, is that I lost a lot of weight because I forget eating.
Semi related, I'm not sure if it's keppra to blame, but I've become really not hungry. I can fast for several days and notice.

 

[orchidteeth]

Contact your doctor again and ask him if he has considered giving you Briviact and if not, why not.
It might be that he has little experience with it. It is relatively new compared to Keppra and is prescribed less often.
Of course Briviact has side effects too but far less mental side effects.
It's also stronger overall.

Quote from Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brivaracetam

"Positive preliminary results from stage III trials were recorded in 2008, along with evidence that it is around 10 times more potent for the prevention of certain types of seizure in mouse models than its analogue levetiracetam."

Personal experience...
I've been on Keppra for years but always in combination with other antiepileptics.
While I was using it my cocktail per day was,

4X Keppra 500 mg
2X Lamotrigine 100 mg
2X Depakine Chrono 500 mg.

I had/have lots of side effects from all of them but Keppra was the worst.
It depressed the hell out of me. It worsened my insomnia and was responsible for a couple of other rather unpleasant side effects.

Since it still worked better than the cocktail I had before I started taking Keppra, my neurologist didn't want to switch anymore.
So I switched neurologists and now I'm no longer on Keppra :)

It has been replaced by Briviact in my cocktail.
Which works better on every front for me. It has its own side effects of course but I much prefer them when compared to those of Keppra.
My current cocktail per day is,

2X Briviact 100 mg
2X Lamotrigine 100 mg
2X Depakine Chrono 500 mg

I've only been on Keppra for about 3 and a half weeks now, so I they won't let me change it yet. I have an appointment with the doctor next week so hopefully it all goes well.

 

[orchidteeth]

I'm dealing with epilepsy. 1500 keppra, 200 vimpat twice a day.
It took me a while to notice that I'm experiencing "kepprage".
I'm a lot angrier than I remember myself being before I got on it. It's not hulking out kind of rage, which is what I expected when I first heard of the idea, it's honest, intimate anger at everything. People use "strangle them with my own two hands" as a way to describe a more hulking out, table throwing anger. Maybe it's true to some people. I've been told I became scary to approach.
I'm ridiculously shy, so me being scary sounds like some sci-fi bullshit.
First time I really noticed it was when I was working with an ass oriented pervert and genuinely almost killed him. Caught myself reaching out to literally strangle him.
Stopped myself only because cops would be called.

Also, my memory is absolute garbage. A goldfish has better memory than I do. Seriously, the mythbusters (iirc) checked this myth. A goldfish legitimately has better memory than I do, which is roughly a week. Even that's for "big things", e.g my father having to move to a dormitory style thing. In a week I'll remember it as if he always lived there. Surviving that one with a checklist app.
The only good thing, I suppose, about this, is that I lost a lot of weight because I forget eating.
Semi related, I'm not sure if it's keppra to blame, but I've become really not hungry. I can fast for several days and notice.

I have noticed a decreased appetite as well, which may or may not be related to the Keppra.