I am speaking on behalf of my daughter. She is 16 and has had epilepsy since she was 7. We have been battling this illness for 9yrs. She has gran mal and a- typical absence seizures. She is currently on 3000mg of keppra also. I have noticed behavior changes, fatigue, not being able to sleep well at night, severe memory loss and mood swings. Epilepsy is an illness that's hard to figure out. I'm not sure if it is the meds or her seizures. She is also on lamictal and clonidine on a daily basis followed by 2 different abort meds as needed. If you are still a member of this site i would like to talk to you.

Hi,
I have recently come off Keppra due to all the side effects, bad fatigue, persitant infections and frequent dizziness. Behaviour changes is a big one and one that my doctors really watched in me. I did suffer really bad depression on the Keppra which has gone with change in meds. I am on Topamax and Lyrica soon to change the Lyrica to Neurotin. I would definiately get the mood swings in your daughter checked out as Keppra may not be suited for you.

Look forward to talking to you soon.

I'm so glad to hear from you. My daughter has been on keppra for about 5 yrs but i've noticed as the dosage has gone up so has her mood swings. She has not been on this high of a dosage before. I brought this up to her neurologist and he said that people who have epilepsy have a high chance of battling with depression and that i should seek counseling for her. She has had counseling and has seen a pshyciatrist. In the midst of everything her father passed away in 2005 3 days before christmas. The pshyciatrist tried 3 different depression meds none of them helped all along she is still on keppra and continues to stay on keppra at this moment. I think maybe the medicine being the cause of sleepless nights, mood swings and memory loss has been overlooked and the cause has been thought to be depression brought on from her epilepsy and the death of her father. I live with her everyday and i know now it does have to do with the meds. It's been such a gradual change. We are now considering the vns surgery. I hope to hear from you again!

hi again,

You said that none of the meds the psycharist gave her work, did any of them increase the seizures. Many anti depressants lower your seizure thershold. Depression is a very common side effect of Keppra and with what your daughter has been through it understandable. I would really push to find out if it is a side effect if she is to continue for any time. Can I ask if the seizures got worse after the death of her father? I know that after experiencing a traumatic event myself my seizures did increase and counselling did help but it was a particular type of counselling, will try to remember.

I don't know much about the surgery as I am in Australia and things here are a little behind. My thoughts are with you through this time.

Honestly her seizures are so sparatic it's hard to tell if the depression meds increased her seizure activity or not. To answer your question about the death of her father yes her seizures have increased. She has also developed the a-typical absence seizures in the last 2 yrs. At this point she has not been in counseling for about 2 mths. Things seem to be the same. How long were you on keppra before you noticed side effects and decided to switch meds?

Thank you, for the helpful information.

Hi again,

It was about 3 years before we finally changed from keppra. For me, my argument to the doctors was that it wasn't controlling the seizures anyway so why couldn't I try something else. Immediately I improved mood wise and with counselling was off anti depressants by the end of last year. I too after my traumatic event was having atypical seizures. My psycharist pin pointed mine as being a result of the traumatic event, something called non-epiletic seizures. Through the counselling I worked out the differences in how i felt and the feels before and they went away, they were grand mal seizures. Please do not think I am applying your daughter is the same, but rather just sharing. I fascinated me what the mind could do.

i am on depokate and changing to keppra slowly. my hair is falling out every time i wash it and i gained alot of weight on the depokate. now that i am on keppra will my hair come back and will i lose the weight?

Hi Tigger2
I have taken Depakote and it made my hair fall out also and had the weight gain too.

I have been on Keppra for about 7 years now. I have had no problems with it. It did not make my hair fall out at all. I did have an increase in weight slightly because I came fro being on Dilantin (made me lose weight) Keppra did not make me gain like the Depakote did though. Right now I am on Keppra and Topamax together and they are a great combo because Topamax make you lose Big Time!!! So if you need more than one drug ask your Doc about Topamax. It has some crazy side effects at first but they go away you just have to give them a chance.

Good Luck!