Keppra and sleeplessness

RE: RE: Keppra and sleeplessness

Submitted by Willsmom on Mon, 2004-10-18 - 12:24

My son is 17 and has been diagnosed with JME 4 years ago. He likely has had this condition for at least 5 years. He was diagnosed after having a grand Mal seizure.After a second seizure he began treatment with Lamictal. As the lamictal dosages went up ( 800 mg. / day), the Jerks got worse. We decided to try Valproate, which caused double vision, stmbling , and dibilitating headaches ( perhaps an interaction with the Lamical which he was still taking at the time.)We weaned him off of Lamictal and began Topamax. He was completely seizure free for 4 months on 250mg of Topamax a day. He had memory problems and was tired all of the time. In the mean time he was diagnosed with sleep apnea ( likely around for a long time as well). When the jerks began reappearing his neuro advised increasing the dosage of Topamax ( up to 500 mg / day). When he had 3 grand mal seizures in 4 weeks we added Keppra.As the Keppra dosages went up he began getting more tired during the day.After 6 weeks he had 2 grand mal seizures.We decreased the Topamax as it did not appear to be doing much except effecting his memory.As we decreased the Topamax we ncreased the Keppra up to 300 mg. / day.All heck broke loose.Once he was completely off of Topamax we wer up to 1 S a day and even 2 in 1 Day.This was a shock to us all as he had only 3 grand mal seizures in 3 1/2 years, 2 before meds ans 1 when he missed a dose.Since July he has had 27 grand mal seizures.He is now on a dosage of 45 mg. of Pheno and 1500 mg. of Keppra.He is tired all of the time. Cannot concentrate Cannot go to schoolHe droolsHe sees coloursHe is now on a restricted diet , no wheat, nodairy, no soy , no corn, no aspertate, no MSG.He is taking suppliments, calcium, vit.D, Vi.E. Omega 369, folic acid, vit. B6 & a multivitamin.He is beginning CPAP treatment, which we hope will turn things around.His tongue is swollen and seems to be blocking his abiliy to breath(at night) exasperating the sleep apnea.I am interested to hear that the Keppra makes some people too tired to work, I have assumed that his lack of good sleep is the culprit. He sleeps 10 to 12 hours a night and is still tired and lethargic.I am also interested in experimenting with melatonin. We tried 3 mg before bed last week. It did help him to get to sleep ( a chronic problem) and wake a little earlier, but it did not stop the seizures. I wonder if we should try a larger dose at night?The past 3 months have been nightmarish for us all.I do not believe that he is taking effective meds.I think that if I had known what I do now that he may have been fine with the Topamax and a modified diet and CPAP.Time will tell.