Levetiracetam and Depression: What Users Say (Page 2)

• Not...
• July 29, 2015

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "I have been on Keppra for two years and would not recommend it. Keppra greatly reduced the frequency and severity of my seizures, but it did so at a cost. Since starting Keppra, I've consistently experienced depression, anxiety, and compulsive suicidal thoughts. It has significantly impacted my quality of life in terms of mental health."

• Anonymous
• August 23, 2016

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "This medication created the worst two years of my life. I started having seizures my sophomore year of college and am now a senior, and I have been on Keppra the past two years. The doctors never explained the severe side effects that would go along with this horrible drug. I used to be always a happy kid, and since I started taking Keppra, I constantly dealt with mood swings, uncontrollable anger, severe depression, constant thoughts of suicide, weight gain, and hair loss! I can't believe it took me such a long time to get off of this stupid drug. The seizures never stopped either, and all the doctors would do is increase my dosage every time. I'm currently at 3000mg a day and am slowly weeding myself off of this drug and going all natural."

• New...
• April 27, 2009

Levetiracetam for Seizures "Had my first seizure this year, put on Keppra a month later. Stopped the seizures, but makes me sleepy all the time. I have mood swings, depression, irritable, and get frustrated easily. Tried to talk to my neurologist, but was told the only side effect Keppra has is being tired. Too scared to ask if I could try anything else because this is supposed to be the safest drug available."

• Nka...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 11, 2015

Levetiracetam for Seizures "My fiancé (22 yrs old, 130 lbs) has been on Keppra combined with Vimpat for over a year, and he has had very bad mood swings, weight loss, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, depression, and irritability/quick temper. We are trying to find out if there is another medication he can take in combination with these to help combat the side effects, or if someone has found another med that works as well with less severe side effects, seeing this is the only med that has helped his seizures so far (diagnosed at 17). Anyone else with a similar problem, or know what might help?"

• Nka...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 11, 2015

Levetiracetam for Seizures "My fiancé (22 yrs old, 130 lbs) has been on Keppra combined with Vimpat for over a year, and he has had very bad mood swings, weight loss, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, depression, and irritability/quick temper. We are trying to find out if there is another medication he can take in combination with these to help combat the side effects, or if someone has found another med that works as well with less severe side effects, seeing this is the only med that has helped his seizures so far (diagnosed at 17). Anyone else with a similar problem, or know what might help?"

• Use...
• January 17, 2013

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "I had my first seizure when I was 17 (now 23). I always wanted to be on medications that were safe, so one day when I had a family. And now I have my family with a healthy boy. I do have to say I was having depression, I was having dizzy spells and really bad headaches. But I talked to my doctor, he lowered my dose and gave me Topamax to take with it. And now my headaches are gone. It is very hard to actually find the right medication for yourself. I wish you all the best!"

• Al1...
• December 14, 2017

Levetiracetam for Seizures "My boyfriend is 22 years old, and he has never experienced seizures before. Then one day at work, after not eating or sleeping very well, he had a seizure (I forget what kind of seizure). He was rushed to the hospital, and they did scans and tried to send him home. After 10 minutes of leaving the hospital, he had another seizure. (Just to mention, his dad's sister has seizures and is on Dilantin.) Then he had a bunch of CAT scans and an EEG, and nothing came back. But now he has to take Keppra 4000 mg a day for 3 months. He hates it. He's very moody now, depressed, and he was never like this before. They are going to do a stress test after the 3 months of taking Keppra and see if not sleeping and eating right caused abnormal brain waves... I just want this to be over."

• spy...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• March 26, 2019

For Seizures "Been on levetiracetam for around 9 years for my seizures, and the side effects were harsh the first year: bad mood swings, severe depression, and migraines daily. But over a couple of years, the side effects decreased. Plus, the levetiracetam controls my seizures caused by brain surgery very well, I only had 2-4 seizures in 9 years. Very happy with this medication."

• Anonymous
• July 10, 2011

Levetiracetam for New Daily Persistent Headache "I have had chronic migraines for 16 years. Because of my hypersensitivity to many medications (antidepressants, Topamax, Depakote, and the list keeps going), I had a great deal of trouble finding a preventative medicine that my body could tolerate at a therapeutic dose. Keppra keeps my migraines to a minimum (about 8 per year, which is so much better than the every other day I was experiencing). I do have some fatigue and depression as side effects, but they are worth the trade-off."

• nic...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 21, 2020

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "So far I have had a terrible experience with this drug, Keppra. They increased the dosage by 1500 mg a day. So now I'm taking 1500 mg 2x a day on top of Lamictal. I always feel tired, moody, and depressed. Most recently, I started having suicidal thoughts and feeling lonely. I hope these side effects end soon."

• Anonymous
• January 30, 2016

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "I was diagnosed at 13 years old with grand mal seizures due to my period. Was put on Keppra 250 mg twice a day. I'm 21 now and still take it. It does control my seizures (though I still get auras once in a while), and I have experienced all the side effects. My parents and friends will be the first to tell you how drastically I have changed from this medication. It makes you very irritable, tired, depressed, crazy mood swings, and short-tempered. Through the years, I've learned to handle it better. When I was 15, I stopped taking them to see if I grew out of it, suggested by my neuro, and had 3 seizures in 3 days. Have been taking it every day ever since. Keeps me living a normal life, like driving a car and going to school!"

• Anonymous
• September 17, 2019

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "I have been taking 200 mg of Keppra twice a day after my second seizure, which was 4 months ago. For the first month, roughly, I had constant mood swings and almost no appetite. It wasn't uncommon for me to randomly start feeling depressed, and those phases could last up to multiple days on end. I would also have random anger that seemingly came from nowhere to the point where I would start fights with my family over the dumbest things. Even after that first month, which is supposed to be when your body gets used to the drug, I continually had mood swings and random depression. Although it has stopped me from seizing, I highly do not recommend."

• Doo...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• February 12, 2020

Levetiracetam for Seizures "At the age of 48, my brother was diagnosed with epilepsy seizures. At that time, he almost died because nothing would stop them. After multiple seizures back to back, like 20+, the only thing that would even help control them was name-brand medication (Keppra). They started him out at six 500 mg daily. Many different symptoms with this I've noticed over the years, so I will list a few: mood swings, anxiety, depression, memory loss of dates and time, agitated, lies. Talked to the doctor about the amount of seizures he experienced since the last visit, and at times he gets violent. This medication still doesn't control them like it should, but by taking it, he at least has a chance."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• April 30, 2019

For Epilepsy "Horrible experience on this drug, yes, it works to stop seizures, but I don’t think that outweighs the cons of having mood swings, anger, depression, anxiety, and really dark thoughts that could put me in prison. And it also makes you lose your friends and family due to these side effects."

• xar...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 6, 2020

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "I was always a very happy person with a lot of energy, but since I started Keppra, I became violent, with uncontrollable rage, depressed, tired, dizzy, and I attacked my cat for almost doing nothing. I don't recognize myself. I just want to lie down all the day and stay in bed."

• Rob...
• July 27, 2010

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "Started off using Keppra with Tegretol and at the regular 500 mg dose per day. Later upped to 1000 mg per day. Once they removed my Tegretol dose, I began to have violent seizures. Now I have Tegretol back, and my dosage of Keppra was doubled again. Now at 2000 mg per day. I'm now depressed, tired, nauseated, and don't really want to eat at all. I'll have to talk to my doctor about changing my medication."

• Pri...
• March 23, 2017

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "So I had times where I'd black out and have amnesia. Basically, it would scare my parents, and after the second time it happened, they took me to the doctor. We went through all the tests, and they all came back normal except for my EEG. It came back abnormal. I was immediately put on Keppra and hated every second of it. I started off with 500 mg, 2x a day. After the first dose, I was hallucinating and very confused. The four-hour mark was the worst. I was super loopy and couldn't focus for nothing. The medicine caused me to have mood swings and go into a deep depression. My advice, if you have any sort of mental illness, DON'T TAKE IT. I've struggled with bulimia, anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder for years. Seizures stopped. Wasn't worth it."

• Jew...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 4, 2017

Levetiracetam for Epilepsy "Keppra was fine for me at first (500 mg twice a day) for 2 months. I suffer from complex partial seizures and experienced a grand mal recently. Then I experienced extreme tiredness, confusion, headaches, greatly increased my depression, could barely go from my bedroom to the living room (never mind managing leaving my house). I had to go back to my neurologist to get switched off such a horrible drug for me. Aptiom (once a day!) so far is a better choice for me."

• Hai...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 25, 2019

For Seizures "I was put on it by a neurologist who never actually tested me for epilepsy. I saw another neurologist who ultimately diagnosed me with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), non-epileptic seizures caused by panic attacks. I was put on 500 mg twice a day, which was fine, but after having a miscarriage, my anxiety skyrocketed, and I started having seizures, so they increased the dosage to 750 mg twice a day. That’s when the issues began. Joint and muscle pain to the point I see a PT and orthopedic doctor. Anxiety was so bad. Depression set in. Now I’m going through the withdrawals, which are the worst: headaches, anxiety, muscle aches, nausea... basically the side effects you get from the medicine but in reverse."

• jl2...
• September 24, 2011

Levetiracetam for Seizures "Have been on Keppra for about 8 months now. Only one seizure, but the side effects are getting to me. Depressed, irritable, weight gain. Neurologist has added an antidepressant to see if that helps. Just wish the medication was cheaper."

• Anonymous
• August 15, 2011

Levetiracetam for Seizures "I'd been having partial seizures every 2 weeks lasting a few days for about 3 years before having a tonic-clonic seizure and finally agreeing to go on medication. I started on Keppra and the seizures came once a month for about a week, similar to a girl's period, and I became very depressed, suicidal, and uninterested in anything. About 2 years later, I had another tonic-clonic seizure. Shortly after that, I switched to Lamictal and am no longer suicidal but am still depressed and uninterested in anything, and the seizures now come more frequently and randomly."

• Anonymous
• December 4, 2009

Levetiracetam for Seizures "Keppra alone did not do anything for me except make me depressed and have 'Keppra rage.' I was up to 1500 mg 2x a day and would still have a grand mal about every 4 months and absence seizures in between. My neuro switched me to Topamax, Depakote, and everything else, but would break out in rashes or have horrible diarrhea and every other side effect. Back to Keppra, I am 2000 mg 2x a day (400 mg a day total) now, weighing 175 (hell of a dose), and got put on Lamictal as well, up to 100 mg 2x a day of that. 1 month since the addition of Lamictal and a higher dose of Keppra and no seizures yet. We shall see."

• Sti...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 23, 2022

Levetiracetam for Seizures "I wouldn't give this drug to a dog. It made me totally non-functional. No appetite, no motivation, no energy, could not stay awake - I struggled to get anything done - constructive or otherwise - etc. etc."

• Mak...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• April 5, 2023

Levetiracetam for Seizures "It stopped me from having as many seizures as before, but caused breakthrough seizures, particularly in my sleep. The dosage kept increasing, but that did not stop the seizures. It causes a lot of depression as well."

• Ell...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 28, 2021

Levetiracetam for Seizures "I tried lamotrigine twice. Unfortunately, it caused very swollen lymph nodes with fever. I took Keppra 750 mg twice a day for a few months. My kidneys couldn't handle it. I then stopped and tried again, ended up taking 500 mg twice a day. I believe Keppra does stop seizures to some extent, although it causes side effects that are unbearable over time. The biggest issues were personality changes, I became a different human, lacked empathy, was very moody, and hardly happy. I did have bouts of aggression, but for me, it was better than my previous aggressive issues before starting Keppra. I couldn't complete tasks, had memory problems, libido problems, insomnia, and lots of trouble focusing, I had no motivation and lots of sadness, my muscles ached, and I couldn't train at the gym as much as I did before. I felt like I wasn't living my own life. I felt the cost of controlling seizures was just too high. It will work if you can live like a zombie."