pregnancy and keppra

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Hello everyone I am 28 years old, female, with JME. My doctor has switched me from Depakote to Lamictal and now Keppra. I take Keppra 1000mg a day. Is there anyone, who is on Keppra, who is pregnant or who has had a baby. There is a ton of information of Lamictal and pregnancy but not much of Keppra and pregnancy. My husband and I want to start planning for a family, but we are VERY nervous. My ob/gyn put me on a prenatal vitamin and extra folic acid. I would appreciate any information from anyone. -aspepath

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Submitted by ndbutler on Tue, 2007-10-30 - 15:06

Hi all, I'm 32 and was diagnosed with JME in '98 after having a grand mal (only one) first day on a new job (likely I developed it in high school). I've had absolutely NO problems since then until now. I had a beautiful baby girl 5 weeks ago and was on Lamictal. I was previously on Depakote but started doing research 9 months before trying and realized it wasn't the best for me, despite the advice of my first neuro. I found another neuro after that. I had absolutely no problems during pregnancy. I had blood draws every two months to keep things within the recommended range. My JME was controlled at the very bottom of the range. My problems started two weeks after delivery. I had horrible dizzy spells two mornings in a row. I couldn't do anything but sit down for an hour, and even then the room was spinning. My husband connected it to my meds and my 300 mgs 2x day were knocked down to 250 2x. Well, had quite a bad session of jerking a few days later and the evening dose was returned to 300. I now have weird sensations in one leg (like I'm pushing it out, but I'm not moving it at all), twitching -- not bad jerking but my hands occasionally come up from the keyboard as I type this -- and bouts of dizziness that come and go. I'm terrified I'm going to hurt my daughter. I don't carry her up and down stairs, change her on the floor, usually move her from room to room in a stroller, don't bathe her without my husband, and don't drive unless I absolutely have to. I'm trying to enjoy the limited non-work time I have but it's always in the back of my mind. I'm going to talk to my neuro about adding another drug, likely Keppra, after reading comments here. We briefly discussed it when I was in the office last week. I feel like Lamictal on its own has been exhausted because the side effects of higher dosage cancel out the possible benefits. Just be careful to monitor things after the baby is born. A blood draw before leaving the hospital isn't a bad idea. If not then, when you start losing weight. I lost 20 lbs in less than two weeks, and that appears to be part of the problem. Oh yeah, I've been taking massive doses of folic acid (about 3mg/day) for over a year. Can't hurt. Best of luck, aspepath. I had lots of ultrasounds, non stress tests, etc. because I was considered high risk because of epilepsy. That's really the best you can do in lieu of more info. Has anyone else had problems post-pregnancy?

Re: pregnancy and keppra

Submitted by Trichica on Sat, 2010-03-27 - 23:03

Before, I started having a single seizure event every 4 years after I started college. After my 2nd one I was placed on Depakote for 3 years. Then since I had no events they took me off. A couple of years later I had one single event but my dr didnt want to put to me back on anything given the infrequency. Of course I had just gotten married and after 3 months we were pregnant. While seizures were a concern, I refuse to take any meds - the recommendation was Keppra. My pregnancy was pretty good and my son was healthy with a little jaundince from being born 3 weeks early. I lost my job after 2 months after his birth and found a job 2 months later. The second day on the job I had a seizure at work - the first at work EVER...as my events always happened in the morning as I was getting ready for work. I had started taking Zolof for postpregnancy anxiety and it coincides with this event. I slowly got off of it and 3 months later (approx. when Zolof was coming off my body), I had another seizure. I was then wrongfully terminated and have spent the last year looking for work, pursuing legal action, raising my son and seeking further treatment in NYC Epilepsy Center. I was placed on lamictal immeditaly but I had another seizure 3 months later. Then they increased my dosage and yet I had another one 1 month after that. It was then that I was placed on Keppra 1500mg extended version. I had no seizures for 6 months and after a few days from that great milestone I had my first one today. My guess is that they will increase my Keppra dosage and runs some blood work but I was going to start planning for my second child this coming month given that both my OBGYN and neuro stated to wait 6 months...now I am wondering if knowing my incidents are caused by sleep depravation and stress (we may be losing our home due to my lack of work and income for 9 months), I should just work on taking steps towards reducing these events (melitonin for sleep and some sort of exercise or relaxation methods in my life), I should move on with my plans to add to my family and focus on enjoying that more than the rest of life's hurdles...which are going to be there no matter what...I just need to reprioritize when I focus on those....I think is the less stressful approach and allows us all to live our lives not guided by fear....

Before, I started having a single seizure event every 4 years after I started college.  After my 2nd one I was placed on Depakote for 3 years.  Then since I had no events they took me off. A couple of years later I had one single event but my dr didnt want to put to me back on anything given the infrequency.  Of course I had just gotten married and after 3 months we were pregnant. While seizures were a concern, I refuse to take any meds - the recommendation was Keppra.  My pregnancy was pretty good and my son was healthy with a little jaundince from being born 3 weeks early.  I lost my job after 2 months after his birth and found a job 2 months later.  The second day on the job I had a seizure at work - the first at work EVER...as my events always happened in the morning as I was getting ready for work.  I had started taking Zolof for postpregnancy anxiety and it coincides with this event.  I slowly got off of it and 3 months later (approx. when Zolof was coming off my body), I had another seizure. I was then wrongfully terminated and have spent the last year looking for work, pursuing legal action, raising my son and seeking further treatment in NYC Epilepsy Center.  I was placed on lamictal immeditaly but I had another seizure 3 months later.  Then they increased my dosage and yet I had another one 1 month after that. It was then that I was placed on Keppra 1500mg extended version.  I had no seizures for 6 months and after a few days from that great milestone I had my first one today.  My guess is that they will increase my Keppra dosage and runs some blood work but I was going to start planning for my second child this coming month given that both my OBGYN and neuro stated to wait 6 months...now I am wondering if knowing my incidents are caused by sleep depravation and stress (we may be losing our home due to my lack of work and income for 9 months), I should just work on taking steps towards reducing these events (melitonin for sleep and some sort of exercise or relaxation methods in my life), I should move on with my plans to add to my family and focus on enjoying that more than the rest of life's hurdles...which are going to be there no matter what...I just need to reprioritize when I focus on those....I think is the less stressful approach and allows us all to live our lives not guided by fear....

Before, I started having a single seizure event every 4 years after I started college. After my 2nd one I was placed on Depakote for 3 years. Then since I had no events they took me off. A couple of years later I had one single event but my dr didnt want to put to me back on anything given the infrequency. Of course I had just gotten married and after 3 months we were pregnant. While seizures were a concern, I refuse to take any meds - the recommendation was Keppra. My pregnancy was pretty good and my son was healthy with a little jaundince from being born 3 weeks early. I lost my job after 2 months after his birth and found a job 2 months later. The second day on the job I had a seizure at work - the first at work EVER...as my events always happened in the morning as I was getting ready for work. I had started taking Zolof for postpregnancy anxiety and it coincides with this event. I slowly got off of it and 3 months later (approx. when Zolof was coming off my body), I had another seizure. I was then wrongfully terminated and have spent the last year looking for work, pursuing legal action, raising my son and seeking further treatment in NYC Epilepsy Center. I was placed on lamictal immeditaly but I had another seizure 3 months later. Then they increased my dosage and yet I had another one 1 month after that. It was then that I was placed on Keppra 1500mg extended version. I had no seizures for 6 months and after a few days from that great milestone I had my first one today. My guess is that they will increase my Keppra dosage and runs some blood work but I was going to start planning for my second child this coming month given that both my OBGYN and neuro stated to wait 6 months...now I am wondering if knowing my incidents are caused by sleep depravation and stress (we may be losing our home due to my lack of work and income for 9 months), I should just work on taking steps towards reducing these events (melitonin for sleep and some sort of exercise or relaxation methods in my life), I should move on with my plans to add to my family and focus on enjoying that more than the rest of life's hurdles...which are going to be there no matter what...I just need to reprioritize when I focus on those....I think is the less stressful approach and allows us all to live our lives not guided by fear....