Re: Keppra Wean Questions- ne & Mike

October 5, 2004

Hi- Noah was on Keppra while on the diet & was weaned off a few months ago

without any problems. It was the only drug he took while on the diet, so when

weaning time came, I was hesitant, but happy to have him drug-free. He started

Keppra a few weeks before the diet. He did get much better while on Keppra, but

was not totally seizure-free until day 4 of the diet. So, we knew that the diet

was the reason he was seizure-free. The only side effects we noticed from the

Keppra was maybe the extra emotions... and I don't think we noticed any effects

from the wean. Because Keppra is such a mild drug compared to the others, his

wean was not as slow as I thought it would be, and he did great. Hopefully yours

will go just as well! Today marks 7 months seizure-free for him.

Mom to Noah- age 3, med-free, & seizure-free on the keto diet

smclague claguelaw@...> wrote:

Hi all,

Been monitoring the posts for awhile now when I can snatch a

moment. Seems like anytime I post it's always with more questions

so I just wanted to first say: To all that are experiencing great

success with the diet both with seizure control and developmental

strides for your kids--keep those wonderful stories coming! To all

those still working so hard to gain/keep seizure control for your

kids--keep up the hard work, your kids are so worth the effort!

Here's the background to the question:

As for our daughter, (age 4 and 1st seizure on 12-6-04 and

keto kid since 7-19-04 and seizure free since 7-1-04) we are still

so excited to say that continues to do extremely well on the

diet. started the diet on 2 meds--Depakote (1125mg/day) and

Keppra (125mg/day). Keppra we had started just 2 weeks before the

diet as our neuro was out of the country and had her longest

T/C (7 minutes). As of yesterday (10-4-04) took her last

depakote pill (pending a 2 week monitoring period); we had been

lowering 125mg per week beginning on Day 2 of diet initiation and

then for the last 375mg (ie last 3 pills) we weaned 125 mg per two

week period (1 week to lower blood levels and 1 week for

observation). Now we have the 125mg of Keppra to wean. Just spoke

with our neuro today who wants us to wait to wean the Keppra until

our appointment and EEG on November 19th (ie 6 weeks). I of course

want to start the wean in about 2 weeks after we make sure she

maintains seizure control with no depakote. The debate centers on

whether her 2 weeks of being seizure free prior to diet initiation

on July 19th was due to the addition of the 125 mg of keppra or

whether it was because we had begun in earnest changing 's diet

to include only those foods on the diet (although not limiting her

portions).

Any advice, information on how your kids faired weaning off keppra,

or questions to consider given this brief overview would be very

much appreciated.

Thanks again!!

ne and Mike

" The Ketogenic Diet....a realistic treatment option, NOT just a last resort! "

List is for parent to parent support only.

It is important to get medical advice from a professional keto

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October 5, 2004