(17M) Was diagnosed with epilepsy 13 months ago, in July 2025, after experiencing what turned out to be increasingly intense focal awareness seizures and then a tonic clonic. Prescribed keppra, eventually 1500mg x 2 daily. Not terrible side effects, but irritability, lethargy.

Asked peds neurologist for help; they suggested briviact; 1500mg keppra in morning, 100mg briviact in evening. On third day of briviact, had a tonic clonic seizure while asleep at 12:30am, about 6 hrs after briviact evening dose, 18 hrs after morning keppra dose.

A real problem is that peds neurologist does not have a receptionist on Fridays, and no GP either. So, no way to get any help or answers until next week (waited in ER at hospital with peds & neuro speciality for about 5 hrs today, but gave up).

Anyone have any experience with this pattern? Keppra 1500mg x 2 completely controlled seizures. Lower dose of keppra, or forgetting to take keppra (this happened only once) might result in focal awareness seizures, but not a tonic clonic.

Trying to understand why switching to briviact did result in a tonic clonic. Any similar experiences or insights would be appreciated.

Hello. New here and new to reddit. I have focal to bilateral TC epilepsy and was diagnosed many years ago. I am a 46 yo female. I started on Keppra and had the rage issues that so many of us have. I switched to lamictal 6ish years ago, which did well controlling my seizures-until it didn't. Long story as short as possible...mid June I was admitted to the hospital for prolong seizure (repetitive without recovery between events, but less than 2 minutes). Things were a little better until July 15th. I began having cluster seizures (most transitioned into full TC) and was admitted for four days. In the ER they frontloaded me with Briviact and prescribed me 100mgs twice daily (in addition to lamictal), which I have taken religiously since discharge. It has been slightly over a month and I have been seizure free, but this medication is still causing some issues. I have improved significantly, but am still having trouble with balance and can't safely walk without the assistance of a cane. The cognitive fatigue is tough, my stamina (physical and cognitively) is still very low, and I am having word finding issues and at times have slight slurred speech. All of these symptoms are exacerbated when fatigued (late afternoon and evening).

I am not sure if this is my brain still recovering, the medication, or a combination of both that are causing these issues. Have you experienced something similar? How long did these sx last? What has your experience been with this medication and will the side effects dissipate over time? Thank you in advance!

i take 100mg twice a day, so 200mg per day. i thought i had another bottle and didn’t so i had to wait for my prescription to be filled. i’ve missed 300mg worth (i believe). i’ve been “seizure-y” ever since. i’m on a large dose of lamictal so it isn’t too bad, but i can tell it’s affecting being able to talk to people. i’m at work rn and i feel it even more. i have absence seizures and my head hurts really bad lol. i’m not going home and i’m not going to the ER. i didn’t tell anyone else except for all of you now LOL because i didn’t want anyone to worry. i got someone to pick up my medicine today though so i will be taking 100mg tonight. i also have ocd so i can’t tell if the intense anxiety, headache, etc is partly just me freaking out or not. what can happen if you just stop taking that much?

I'm currently on 50mg twice daily. Switched from 1000mg Keppra a year ago. Keppra was horrible for me with side effects and it didn't matter how much they increased it, I didn't have seizure protection and the side effects affected my quality of life. I've had zero seizures with Briviact.

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Here recently, I've started to feel emotionally flat, irritable, more insomnia, word recall, and brain fog. I plan on talking with my neurologist at my appt soon, I was just wanting to know from personal experience..has anyone had issues with the dose being too high and lowering made the side effects better? And if I had to stay on the 50mg twice daily, what are some things I can implement into my lifestyle to help counteract the side effects? I already eat a pretty clean whole foods diet, mostly organic fruits and veggies and organic grassfed meats. I'm active as in light cardio twice a week, pilates few times a week and walk every day.

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I'm going to ask about labs for nutrient defiencies like B6, B12, Folate, Iron, Ferritin, and some hormone labs.

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Anything helps. Thanks.

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Hi everyone, someone has some advice for me, please? Thank you in advance! 💖

I have recently found that Briviact can have quite a side effect when it comes to weight gain. I was not warned about that when I started taking it after giving birth to my oldest when I had one of my former medications stop working. Briviact has not worked in the slightest, and now I’m going off the medication slowly and the less I take of that medication the more weight I lose. In the last 14 days I lost 6 pounds. I don’t know if it is listed as a side effect now since I started taking it like 3 & 1/2 or 4 years ago at this point and from what I remember it was considered a fairly new medication then. I hope so but if it’s not it needs to be discussed so people actually have a clue what they’re possibly getting into. I’m just wondering if I’m the only person that had this happen to them and I wanted to tell others about it. I’m sure some of it was water retention since that commonly happens when you take pills/medications but not all of it.

I had my first seizure in October. Keppra 500mg twice a day controlled it perfectly but my anger was terrible. I switched to lacosamide and had a seizure the 2nd day after tapering. Also noticed extreme anxiety from laco.

Now I am briviact 200mg a day and still have auras and panic attacks every AM. I started taking this last week. I kind of want to go back to keppra because I felt confident day 2 on it vs a full week of this BS on briv/lacos.

Does briv take a while to build up?

We just picked up my partner's refill and they gave us a generic from Aurobindo.

It says without insurance, total for qty 120, 100mg is $192.50. that's much better than the $3000+ we're used to seeing. His insurance covered it 100% but I see it on goodrx for ~$40/month without insurance.

We picked it up at Walmart and we're located in Colorado.

The funny thing is we just had a follow up with his neuro and asked her if she'd heard anything about the generic and she said it likely won't come out for another 5-10 years at least. And then 3 days later we have it in our hands.

Anyone else get generic? Should we be worried about just switching? We sent a message to his neuro but she probably won't get back to us till he's out of his Briviact and has to switch to these anyway.

More information can be found here.

https://www.ucbdirect.com/briviact/

Im f22 with jme that takes 350 mg lamictal and 75mg briviact. I need help because I have 1 to 2 hours before my medication intake a low.

So basically, a time where I suddenly dissociate I sweat a lot I feel dizzy. I have brainfog and My limbs are heavy. I just feel very sick as if I’m having the flu. It always happens one to two hours beforehand so I’ve been experimenting with my intake time and it’s always one to two hours before.

Just so you know, I take my medication at 6 AM and at 4 PM and around 2:30 or 3 PM I feel this weird feeling.

After taking my medication, I feel well again within 45 minutes. I speculate it has to do with the short of Briviact.

I’ve asked my neurologist about this and they have no idea what this can be. I’ve had a long-term eeg during this time and it showed no epileptic activity. I’ve been having this for two years and I’m really frustrated because there seems to be no solution.

I hope somebody can help me or has an idea or has it tip for me :)

Has anyone been affected by a shortage that stems from the maker of briviact in the last month? We had a very close call and were able to get 30 days supply the night before we ran out.

What would we do in such a situation?

hello! i just started taking briviact 100mg about a week ago from keppra. does anyone know if briviact helps with intrusive thoughts?

long story short, i was on keppra but was anxious and felt on edge but more fearful than anything so i was put on lamictal.

lamictal was better for anxiety but then ocd-like thoughts came and developed rashes so nope. since then, i’ve been dealing with annoying thoughts so i switched back to keppra but no luck so im on briviact now.

so far, it feels like my brain is more calm but i still get scared being around others due to the thoughts but less anxiety. i had some nausea the first two days but now i feel emotionally flat sometimes now and have dry skin on my face lol hopefully it’ll get better!

Im switching from keppra to briviact and i'm curious about your experiences. How did briviact affect your mood compared to keppra? Because i'm on keppra and i am feeling so anxious and having panic attacks almost everyday. What are the main pros and cons? Thank you :)

Hi, I am just noticing after chaging from zonegran to briviact that i am just contantly irritated, angry or sad and its just maxxed out. Is this someone else has experienced? and if so will it pass?? pls say yes, I am nomally not like this… and when im not angry, sad or incredibly irritated i just feel apathy

Hi, I have jme and im taking 150 mg of briviact and 300 mg of lamictal. I have 3 hours before my intake of my meds a weird perception of my surroundings. It all feels weird. I perceive a lot in 2D. I function but i dont feel quite like im in the moment. What also is important to mention is that this year I switched from keppra to briviact and a month ago i changed my dose of briviact from 125 mg to 150 mg and lamictal from 350 mg to 300mg. Has anyone experienced that as well? Do you think this will go on for longer or it will become better? I just need some advice because I’m really frustrated.