I saw a new neurologist on Thursday. This was the first time I'd seen a brain doctor since I was first diagnosed with epilepsy back in December of 2013, so it was nice to get a second opinion. My doctor said that based on my history, that my current medication (levetiracetam) appears to be working well and that as long as I don't miss a dose, everything should be fine.
Since the meeting, however, I've been thinking more and more about the side effects of my medication. The most common one is drowsiness and/or sleeplessness, which I definitely deal with, though I don't know how much of that is due to the meds -- I have a sleep study scheduled for a week from today, so maybe with the right kind of CPAP machine, I'll be fine.
The next most common side effects are increased levels of anxiety and/or depression. This is the one that has me the most concerned. Right after I started taking levetiracetam (or Keppra, if you want to use the brand name), I went through the worst depression of my life. The problem, however, is that the circumstances of my life were pretty depressing: I had just been diagnosed with epilepsy, I had lost my job, and my estranged wife refused to communicate with me when I turned to her for emotional support. It was a tough time in my life. Since then, I've gotten a much stronger grip on my life and my emotions.
But I still struggle with anxiety and depression on a regular basis. I even picked up a new hobby as a way to combat these negative feelings (which has helped quite a bit). Even so, I was unable to find the motivation to leave my apartment on Saturday and when I went to bed, I had a panic attack for a couple of hours. This resulted in me sleeping through my alarm and missing church the next day. I wasn't scheduled to teach, so at least I wasn't shirking any responsibility, beyond that of keeping my basic covenants.
Since I couldn't sleep anyway, I looked up how often people deal with these sorts of side effects and I found the answer: around 0.8% of users. Less than one percent of people using levetiracetam feel anything other than fine. And even if I'm one of the unlucky few that got more than he bargained for, other anti-convulsants have their own risks (many of which include possible liver damage). One big problem is that I don't know if the meds are exacerbating a problem that already exists or if I'm just not handling my brain chemistry properly.
The first step is to follow up with my neurologist. I have an appointment to see her again in July, but I'll send her an email later today (I'd have done it already, but I left her business card in my desk at work). Maybe she has a go-to medication that can take the edge off the side effects. Maybe she'll ask me to see a psychiatrist, which I may want to do anyway. Maybe she'll ask for more test to be conducted. All I know is that I've been dealing with these problems for a while now and I just want my life back.
2 comments:
Couldn't they do a blood test to check your liver?
If I was switched to a different medication, then I would have to have regular test to make sure my liver was healthy. I was only trying to point out that there's no such thing as a simple switch; it's a game of deciding which side effects are the least terrible.
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