Posted by LouisianaSportsman on May 12, 2014, at 21:50:11
In reply to Re: Anticonvulsants and the dumb factor, posted by Beckett on May 12, 2014, at 19:17:38
> Thanks for weighing in Eric. I'll look at Keppra. Not familiar with it. Nor trileptal.
Eric is correct, Topamax (topiramate), colloquially Dopamax, is one of the worst offender along with its carbonic anhydrase pal, Zonegran (zonisamide).
Eric and I have atypical reactions with both of our respective anticonvulsants. Like myself with Topamax XR, he gets mood stabilization effects from Keppra 3,000mg. daily which is not proven clinically as a mood stabilizer and is not a first-line anticonvulsant for mood stabilization just like Topamax which also has little credibility for mood stabilization. I do not have any cognitive issues from 400mg. max dosage topiramate.
With Keppra, if anything, your cognition might be enhanced as it is a piracetam, a cognitive enhancer. Just don't use these more experimental anticonvulsants until you've also exhausted two of three first-line, a Depakote, a Lithium and a (es, ox) Carbamazepine [trileptal] anticonvulsants first after Lamictal.
With the exception of Keppra, anything will have that "dumb factor", particularly Depakote of the ones aforementioned since it has the most GABA relevancy.
I believe that Keppra has a better side effect profile than Topamax and I only suggest Topamax as a last resort to people looking to lose weight already stabilized as it typically doesn't work out for patients. It generally produces unreal side effects for patients, but I am medication tolerant.
poster:LouisianaSportsman
thread:1065532
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