Advice needed....med increase and drowsiness

[caitlinnjacksmummy]

Hi all

Jack's epilim was increased from 4ml to 5ml morn n night on Wed by consultant

He is also on chloral hydrate to make him sleep at night....has wee bit of a cough too

But his lamotrogine was also increased on Mon to 5x5mg tabs morn n night from 4x5mg tabs morn n night, and week before was increased from 3x5mg tabs morn n night to 4x5mg tabs morn n night,

So in space of 2 weeks he has went up two extra tabs morn n night

He has bn drowsy this week but esp today

Do u think it is just the med increase?

We see drowsiness when we increase meds (Tegretol for epilepsy). It seems to take a few weeks to settle. Increasing 2 lots of medication, and maybe a cough as well would be enough to explain the drowsiness I would guess.

med increase always has an effect and it can take a while to wear off. Those drugs have powerful effects on the brain and its workings so its not suprising they have a huge effect.
Epilim made dd sleepy, lamotrigine didn't.
How fast is the lamotrigine going up? We did 5mg increases every two weeks cos of the risk of the Steven's-johnson rash.
Keppra increases have the opposite effect and dd becomes agitated and restless and very screamy!

Hi

So hw long does this drowsiness last?

Is it the epilim? Doesn't usually get drowsy

like this?

Still very drowsy today....and had night seizure AGAIN last nite

That is alot of extra meds in a short space of time my DD has an epilepsy nurse we can phone at any time if we are worried about anything though her epilepsy is quite mild compared to your DS have you got a epilepsy nurse you could ring just to put your mind at rest or maybe it is different in your area
But if its any help at all my DD was always very sleepy and drowsy whenever her medication went up for a week or so afterwards.

ds2 always gets very drowsy when either Epilim or lamotrigine is increased. It took ages to increase the lamotrigine to 25mg bd - and he is 4 1/2 and weighs 17 kg so far older/bigger than your boy. A 10mg increase in lamotrigine plus a 1 ml increase in Epilim over only 2 weeks sounds like loads to me. I wouldn't be surprised if your little one is drowsy for at least a week after such a big increase.

Hope the increased meds make a difference.

epilim can cause siezures. Just to complicate things