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Leviracetam withdrawl side effects.
My 9 year old son is on leviracetam since 2 years and has been sezuire free for this 2 years . currently he is weaning off from keppra completely but I see a lot of sideeffects like weakness,shaking,twitching feeling weird and unwell,mood swings,anxiety and streching . Are these the withdrawl sideeffects and will these side effects go away once the medication is stopped?
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@mousumi2023
Congratulations on your son's seizure freedom. Keppra must be tapered as you likely already know.
Yes.
He is likely tapering too quickly. Have you contacted his physician regarding these symptoms? Did his doctor do an EEG, MRI, and neuro exam that were all normal before starting his tapering?
How often and what type of seizures did he have?
Jake
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2 ReactionsHi Jake ! Thank you for your response. Its been a slow tampering since 6 months. Yes,we have contacted our neurologist and he mentioned that if the side effects are due to lowering medication dose,we need to stop the medication as planned and will observe.
He had an abnormal EEG when he was diagnosed and MRI was normal which was done 2 years before but before tampering the dose there was no EEG or MRI done. Our doctor said ,if sezuires occurs again ,it will be done.
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3 ReactionsHe has a tonic clonic sezuires not frequent ,we started keppra after he had two consecutive sezuires in a year. Before that he had febral sezuires only till 6 yrs of age.
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1 Reaction@mousumi2023
If it were me I wouldn’t have begun discontinuation of a seizure medication after only 2 years especially without those tests. In my opinion, doctors have a cavalier attitude. Admittedly, no one can predict a seizure, but why not make sure the risk is as low as possible. Speaking for myself, it’s been almost 4 years since I’ve had a seizure. My MRI is questionable and my EEG always shows seizure activity. However, even if it didn’t I wouldn't stop my medication until I was seizure free for at least 5 years, if then. Overly cautious, perhaps.
Good luck to your son and yourself,
Jake
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3 ReactionsThank you for ur response Jake.
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1 ReactionMy doctor had suggested Keppra but after reading problems getting off of it I am concerned. I just discontinued clonazepam after a three and a half month tapering off. I tried Keppra (the generic form) with lamotrigine and it caused GERD. I'm on a smaller dose of lamotrigine and maybe that would help.
I have been looking into other drugs. The physician's assistant mentioned brivacetam but after looking it over that sounded scary. I also checked xcopri and vimpat but don't remember if one or both of them were controlled substances which I don't want to try again as I don't want to get involved with a drug that can be addictive.
I have been on lamotrigine for many years but it has never eliminated them. I stayed on it because I could tolerate it. My dosage has been decreased. I've been trying to find something to replace it but don't know what to try.
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1 Reaction@heel33
Have you considered any of the older meds or have you already been that route.
Didn't you take Dilantin at one time?
Jake
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1 ReactionJake,
I was on dilantin several years and discontinued it in 2004 (?) due to the fact that if could affect the bones and I had been told I have osteopenia.
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1 Reaction@heal33
Since Brivaracetam is similar to Keppra why don't you want to try it?
I assume your seizures aren't controlled.
Jake
@heal33
Wise choice. I have always been on at least one or two older meds.
Now I'm leary of changing since my seizures are controlled.
Jake