Brivaracetam and Drowsiness: What Users Say

• Anonymous
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• January 30, 2023

For Seizures "Briviact works perfectly for my partial seizures. Three years without seizures and almost no side effects. My dosage is 100 mg per day with 600 mg oxcarbazepine - two times am/pm with 50 mg Briviact and 300 mg oxcarbazepine (kids' dosage). I crack pills and found the perfect dosage for myself. I know it is not a good idea to crack pills, but I'm glad I did. There are light side effects like sleepiness, but nothing even close compared to Keppra and other AEDs. Respect to all those people who developed and introduced this medication."

• Cra...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• January 15, 2023

For Epilepsy "I have been on Briviact since May 2022, started at 100 mg morning and night, then upped to 150 mg morning and night in September 2022. This medication has caused so many side effects: irritability, agitation, anger, drowsiness, brain fog, memory issues-the works. I thought the side effects would go away after my body adjusted, but it seems to have only gotten worse. I just tapered back down to 100 mg 2X a day in hopes the side effects go away. But it is causing even more problems, it is making me dizzy and nauseated. I doubt I'm going to continue on with this med. It did work pretty well at taming my tonic-clonics, but the side effects are so bad that I can barely function. It just isn't worth it."

• Dru...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 24, 2021

For Epilepsy "I am a 45-year-old man that, for some strange reason, came down with epilepsy about ten years ago. I have mainly temporal lobe epilepsy but have had a few generalized seizures. I am a band teacher that was doing way too much and told everyone yes for everything, so I think that it was stress and lack of sleep that made this start. I have been on many different meds but started Briviact along with Trileptal a few years back. My doctor told me that I was intractable and began to do some testing to see if I was a candidate for surgery. I was very scared and did not want that portion of my brain messed with. I told him let's try some other meds, and this is when Briviact came in. After not driving a vehicle for two years, the combination of Briviact and Trileptal worked. We are not even talking surgery anymore. I will say that I do experience anxiety, sleepiness, double vision (occasionally), irritability (this is a big one), numbness, and an uneasy feeling."

• Ano...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 27, 2025

"So I’ve tried most meds, including all CGRP injections for migraine prophylaxis, and in Canada it’s called Brivlera, but the pills are the same “Brivaracetam.” I asked my old neurologist about this because he wouldn’t prescribe me Keppra due to concerns about the psychiatric side effects. He did prescribe Briviact, which also has a slightly different mechanism of action and is way more selective for the SV2A receptor. But I found it sedating and stopped, but it works. Fast forward to now, and my new neurologist said it was a good idea, and I’m up to 100 mg at bedtime with 60 mg of Qulipta in the morning and a ketamine nasal spray. I still have a ways to go, but I must say I haven’t had this kind of relief in so, so long. Oh, also I tried Keppra for cost reasons, and it gave me anxiety. I stopped, and it went away. Briviact is a gem!!"