keppra dose levels

[logger]

hi all,

does anyone take an uneven dose of keppra. i always thought the doses should be even twice a day, but my neuro wants me to take 1000mg in the morning and 500mg in the evening. anyone do something similar?

logger

[spacy stacy]

Yep-

Although my dosing regime is exactly opposite of yours. I take 500 mg of Keppra in the morning and 1000 mg at night. This way I have the worst of the side-effects when sleeping. I am also on Dilantin, which I also take at night.

People usually take "even" doses to try to keep a steady level of the AED in the blood. For Keppra though, the half life of the drug is only 7-8 hours (pretty short), so there will always be a drop anyway.

Ask your Doc about it if you are concerned. It is possible to cut these pills, so you can take 750 mg twice a day if you wish. I also think they sell Keppra as 750 mg pills, but they just looked to big for me to deal with.

Good luck-
Stacy

[pennzoil34]

Hi there,

I also take an uneven dose of Keppra, just 500 mgs in the morning, none til the next day. So yeah it afeects me mood swing wise, go thru ups & downs of depression, sometimes feel very tired, oh & lack of appetite is a biggie with keppra for me. Drives me crazy, but neuro is supposed to eventually increase it once I completely go off of my Tegretol XR, Im down to 400 mgs of XR now every day. So time will tell.

Pennzoil34

[Jerri in Boston]

My husband has been suffering from morning sz. all last week and today.

He had blood drawn on Wed to see where his levels were. Dr. called today and upped his keppra.... 1,000 mg in the AM....500 mg. afternoon and 1,000 mg at bedtime.

Dr said keppra and lamictal levels were low but wanted to put a bump in the keppra first to see how that worked.

[jmac72]

Hi I am a new member and am concerned about the side effects of Keppra. I started having grand mal seizures at the age of 29 and I am now 37. Over the course of a few years I came to learn that I have a birth defect in my left frontal lobe that is causing the seizures. I only have them in my sleep and they are not frequent(3-4 a year).
Once I started on Keppra in fall 2007 the seizures were reduced.I have only had 3 since Oct. 07. However since that time I have encountered problems with auras. These auras are not followed by seizures but are very painful and interupt my seep in the early am.
As a result of these auras, I went to the Mayo clinic to see if removal of the defect in my brain is an option-it isn't. The doctor at Mayo upped my Keppra from 3000 mg's a day to 4000mg's a day to see if this would stop the auras. It has to some extent, but ever since that time, I have had problems with side-effects.
At times my mind races terribly, and I have strange thoughts which I cannot control. I had to stop smoking pot as a result( something I thought would never happen!) because this would only intesify my anxiety and racing thoughts. It is not a constant problem, but some days it becomes very tiresome.
I would like to mention that I am a full-time student and work full time as a concrete finisher and in a relationship with a very loving woman who has two sons (7,and 9) and we have a 14 month old daughter together. I am happy with my home life and feel good about work and school. It just feels like something is different inside me since I upped the Keppra dosage.
Today I talked to the Mayo doctor and he agreed that I should go back down to 3000mg's a day. He also indidcated that I might try Tegratol in addition to lowering my Keppra dose to see if that would control my auras. This worries me because when I read the side effects of Tegratol it included mental hyperactivity! I have always been an anxious person, but never enough to affect my daily life.
I am sure that my new life as a father is some of the cause of stress/anxiety but I have never had the obssesions I have had over the last few months. Worrying that I am going crazy, worring why i am worried about going crazy! Afraid to be creative because I am worried about never coming back from the creative process etc. Does anyone else feel this way? Is this normal with Keppra? I know 4000mg's a day is high. I am quite sure my anxiety has increased since I started having seizures, that seems natural. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts? Thanks so much!