Hi! Keppra really did a negative number on me. I'm on Trileptal now, and the side effects and everything else are not so bad, I'm able to deal with it. I don't ever want to be on Keppra again.

When i was first diagnosed I was put on Keppra. It was terrible. I was on only 1000mg a day and my mood swings were awful. I was taken off of it within 3 weeks. I am now on trileptal and topamax, and though I can have some mood swings, they are minor and occasional. I do feel "depressed" at times--but who wouldn't when they are having seizures every day!

All AED's have some mood sides effects---part of this is trying to find the ones that give YOU as an individual the best coverage with the least side effects--its a balancing act.

My daughter is currently on Keppra and had been on Trileptal. She never had any moodiness on the Trileptal but it was not helping the seizures. The Keppra is somewhat helping the seizures but our neuro told us that in 5% of the cases it causes EXTREME aggressive behavior. We saw alot of this while she was titrating. Now that she is at her appropriate dosage levels the moodiness has tapered/balanced a little but she is definitely atill moody and mean. We are switching her to another drug this week. (Seizure free and quality of life is our goal just like everyone) When I first read about Keppra I questioned why she was put on it as a single drug as most of the success and FDA approval is for is to be used as a conjuctive drug. My doc said the clinical trials show it to be just as effective mono. I am really not so sure. Everyone I know with successes on Keppra is using it with another drug. Hope this helps.

Hi Bandj,
I'm on Keppra, and I've been on it for a little over a year now. To be honest, when I started, I started with 1500 mg a day...and I started having some weird, WEIRD thoughts...ie, thoughts of death, thinking of things I could do with knives, what it would be like to not be here any longer, feeling like an extreme burder on my hubby etc. But, since I knew about the side effects, before I started Keppra, I knew my thoughts were irrational, and I knew it wasn't me thinking those thoughts. It was so bizarre. I was sad at first, and I almost want to see that I could've gone into a deppression, but I kept communicating with my Neurologist, and with my hubby. My hubby helped me out alot. At first, there were days when I'd just come home from school, and go straight to bed. I'd cry, and cry, and I'd cry more. I'd eat meals..But after 1 week of that, I called my Neuro. She suggested that I go down to 1000 mg of Keppra. I did, and I felt a little better, the bizarre thoughts stopped, and I was coming around back to my old self. It seemed like it took forever to get my body used to the Keppra. I'd say it took about a good 6 months. Now, I'm still seizure free, and my Liver isn't being compromised, the way it was with Depakote. Keep up the fight with the medications...and dont worry too much about what the medications say they should be taken with. Keppra is the only med I take...and I'm still seizure free.
All my best to you bandj!