Levetiracetam causes several adverse neurological effects that include headache, somnolence, asthenia, dizziness, irritability, and behavioral changes. In addition, it can cause hematological side effects such as mild thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and anemia that may not necessitate its discontinuation [1].
What are common side effects of seizure medications?
Dizziness, feeling lightheaded. Feeling tired or sleepy. Double vision or blurry vision. Poor coordination or balance. Unsteady walking. Headache. Stomach upset or pain.
Can seizure medication cause low platelets?
If a medicine prevents your bone marrow from making enough platelets, the condition is called drug-induced nonimmune thrombocytopenia. Chemotherapy drugs and a seizure medicine called valproic acid may lead to this problem. Other medicines that cause drug-induced thrombocytopenia include: Furosemide.
What are the worst side effects of levetiracetam?
Anger, aggression. Decreased ability to cope with daily life. Depression. Excessive emotional reactions or frequent mood swings or changes. Severe anxiety, agitation, or confused thoughts. Thoughts of suicide.
Can levetiracetam cause anemia Related Questions
What are the major side effects of levetiracetam?
Levetiracetam may cause changes in mood or behavior, problems with coordination, or unusual tiredness or weakness. Tell your doctor right away if you or your child start to feel depressed, anxious, angry, getting upset easily, restless, or have thoughts about hurting yourself.
What happens if you stop taking seizure medication?
Suddenly stopping treatment can cause seizures to start again or happen more often and last longer than before. With your specialist, you can plan how to come off the medication slowly and decide what to do if your seizures start again.
Are seizure medications high risk?
Most of the seizure medications can be used safely, though some carry increased specific risks. Moreover, research from the NEAD study (Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs) found that children of women taking valproic acid during pregnancy had children with lower IQ and and increased risk of autism.
Is seizure medication for life?
The drugs are not a cure, but seizures don’t always last a lifetime; in as many as half of people with epilepsy, the seizures may stop on their own. This means there’s a subset of people taking anti-seizure medication who don’t need it. After years without seizures, many people want to try stopping their medication.
Which drug causes anemia?
Drugs that can cause this type of hemolytic anemia include: Cephalosporins (a class of antibiotics), most common cause. Dapsone. Levodopa.
What is the main cause of anemia?
Possible causes of anemia include: Iron deficiency. Vitamin B12 deficiency. Folate deficiency.
What makes you anemic?
The most common cause of anemia is not having enough iron. Your body needs iron to make hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is an iron-rich protein that gives the red color to blood. It carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.
Can low blood cause seizures?
Research has also found a link between low blood pressure and seizures. For some people, their blood pressure goes lower than usual after a seizure, and remains lower for quite a long time.
Does epilepsy affect blood?
Autonomic changes are the most common symptoms of simple partial seizures but may go unrecognized. Seizures typically activate sympathetic nervous activity, increasing the heart rate and blood pressure, although parasympathetic activation or sympathetic inhibition may predominate during partial seizures.
Can seizure medication cause low white blood cells?
[20] studied the hematological adverse effects in adult patients using carbamazepine, the findings showed that they had lower mean cell hemoglobin, mean cell volume, white blood cells and mean cell hemoglobin concentration levels in comparison to controls [20].
What to avoid when taking levetiracetam?
Yes, you can drink alcohol with levetiracetam, but it may make you feel sleepy or tired, and alcohol and hangovers can bring on seizures in some people with epilepsy. During the first few days of taking levetiracetam, it’s best to stop drinking alcohol until you see how the medicine affects you.
Does levetiracetam damage kidneys?
It has adverse effects reported as somnolence, headaches, dizziness, depression and anxiety. Also, it was reported that levetiracetam can cause Acute kidney injury (AKI), renal profile disturbance, that may be related to its way of excretion and possible nephrotoxicity especially with high loading dose.
What happens if you stop taking levetiracetam?
Withdrawal of Keppra may cause an increase in seizure frequency. Keppra should be tapered off slowly on discontinuation.
How long should I take levetiracetam?
How long to take it for. If you have epilepsy, it’s likely that once your illness is under control you will still need to take levetiracetam for many years. If you’re taking levetiracetam for epilepsy, stopping it suddenly can cause seizures. Coming off levetiracetam should be done very slowly and may take a few months …
Does levetiracetam damage liver?
Levetiracetam has been linked to rare instances of serum aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase elevations during treatment and to rare cases of clinically apparent drug induced liver disease.
What is the warning for levetiracetam?
Levetiracetam may cause changes in mood or behavior, problems with coordination, or unusual tiredness or weakness. Tell your doctor right away if you or your child start to feel depressed, anxious, angry, getting upset easily, restless, or have thoughts about hurting yourself.