Monday, December 27, 2010

Challenges


Adding Lexapro to Lisbeth's meds has not softened the side effects of the Keppra as we'd hoped, so we decided to further reduce the Keppra. There is a liquid form of the medication that can be doled out in lower doses, and last Wednesday Lisbeth's staff at her home started her on a newly prescribed 250 mg a day. We thought we'd see an improvement in Lisbeth's behavior with this latest reduction, but instead, she got worse - she was sleeping for hours at a time during the day, and when she was awake, she was still having the perseverative dark thoughts and anxiety. Lisbeth slept over our house on Christmas Eve. That's when we noticed that a grave mistake had been made - the Keppra label read that Lisbeth was to receive 2500 mg a day, rather than 250!! We were sickened to realize that Lisbeth had been getting this monster dose for the previous 4 days!!! ARGH. Evidently someone at her neurologist's office put the decimal point in the wrong place. We did not give Lisbeth the Keppra that night, and got things straightened around with the on-call doctor yesterday. Lisbeth was doing well yesterday morning (thank goodness these drugs do not have a long half life) and resumed the low dose today. We'll see if it works. There's always something. Moral of the story, double check, triple check, all medication labels. Mistakes get made.

6 comments:

  1. That is so true about medication~ no matter what it is. Glad Lisbeth stayed with you over the holiday so that you had an opportunity to catch the mistake.

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  2. OMG! Martha, that's awful! How fortunate that you noticed. I hope Lisbeth has success with this new medication now that you have the dosage under control. I hope you are going to address this with the neurologists office. ~karen

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  3. Hi Rosemary and Karen!

    Yes, scary! Lis is doing OK. We stopped the Keppra altogether yesterday, because even on the lower dose she was struggling. She had a seizure last night - first one in a month - and now that she's off the Keppra I'm sure we'll see more. She's on three other anti-epileptics, but they don't do the trick. Seems her quality of life is better on her clear days, though, when she has seizures to "reboot" her brain. Stay tuned...
    Thanks for dropping in, and a Happy New Year to you both! xo

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  4. Hello Martha (and Lis),

    Dropped in to see how you were doing. Sorry to hear about Lis's struggles with the medication. I hope 2011 will be better! I am sending you and your family warm New Year thoughts from across the ocean.

    -- Preeta

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  5. Thankyou, Preeta!

    Lisbeth is doing a bit better. A Happy New Year to you across the wide deep blue!

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  6. Hi Mom,
    I see you posted the Brave Irene book cover. I thought it would be pertinent to mention that this was (and may still be) Lizzy's favorite book to read.
    xo
    Kaitlyn

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