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How Do You Deal With The Sleepiness From Medication?

A MyEpilepsyTeam Member asked a question 💭
Yakima, WA

I have Petit Mal seizures. I’m 26. This is most common in children but it stuck with me. I take two medications. Keppra 2000 mg twice a day. Vimpat 150 mg twice a day.

October 24, 2023
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A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member , In mid 2019 I took Keppra for 2 months & it made me so tired that I had to take a nap every day & eventually I started having trouble sleeping at night & so I got off it. If you’re not comfortable with the side effects of your medication, I’d suggest talking to your doctor if you want & maybe they could change your meds or something. But Keppra just made me so tired. When I began seeing my current Neurologist in November 2019, she started me on Vimpat after doing a 5 day in hospital video EEG. At the time a generic Vimpat wasn’t available & I applied for the Patient Assistance Program through Vimpat’s manufacture, UCB, I think is the manufacture. I was approved for the Patient Assistance Program & got my Vimpat for free but I’m sure everyone is looked at differently, like with their financial availability probably & I didn’t have any insurance. Then I soon contacted my local Epilepsy Foundation for help & they put me on one of their programs that only cost me $25 dollars a year & included my meds, blood work & check-ups with their Neurologist & luckily my Neurologist volunteers with my local Epilepsy Foundation & so I got to keep the same doctor but had to go through my local Epilepsy Foundation to leave the Neurologist a message. But Keppra is known to cause excessive drowsiness. In the morning I take 1 Vimpat 100mg & Depakote 750mg & at night I take 1 Vimpat 150mg & 1 Depakote 500mg. In the past I’ve had issues with the Vimpat making my fingers shake after it was increased & so dosage when back down but after January 2023 seizure she increased it at night by 50mg & things have been ok pretty much since. Vimpat has a generic now. The tiny balance issues I have once in a while that @A MyEpilepsyTeam Member mentioned must be due to that. But anyways, if you’re not comfortable with the side effects of the drowsiness, talk to your doctor to try & find something that won’t make you so tired. Good luck. Your friend in Texas, Becky

October 25, 2023 (edited)
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A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

Thank you both. I did talk to with me them and I’m staying on it for now but they want to to test me on a new medication and see how it works.

October 25, 2023
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

Hello! With insomnia, I stop my commitments if possible and try to be at home and finish my sleep, whatever it costs me. Because I found that one of the causes of my seizures is insomnia.

November 16, 2023
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

On Keppra and tegretol I have dizzy spells and get light headed. I honestly sleep on average 10-12 hrs a day. Still just exercise and make sure to physically take care of your body. I nap in the middle of the day usually

November 15, 2023 (edited)
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

For me this is hard to handle. I’ve tried so many different medications and all of them make me tired. What I do is if I know I’m gonna be doing a lot one day I try and make time for mini breaks so that my body can relax a bit but I suggest not taking naps unless you absolutely have to because they’re probably only gonna make u feel worse

October 26, 2023

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