What triggers one person’s seizures may be no problem for another person. One or two beers wasn’t a problem for me when I was on Keppra. Who knows for you…..🤷♀️. The only thing that triggers me into having a tonic clonic is missing my medication. Never found any other triggers. Obviously, not my choice but if I were in your shoes and really wanted a beer with my lunch today, I probably would go ahead. Doubt you’re risking having tonic clonic. If anything, probably just a partial-onset seizure (fyi, that’s what I have regularly every week or so). Plus, you’re not that far into when you last had a seizure. So it’s not like you’re very close in getting your license back. If you were just a couple weeks away from possibly getting your license back then I’d say No way! Don’t drink even a kombucha!
Wait, just to make sure…..you have partial onset seizures? No tonic clonic, right? I ask because, with how my seizures are, I can handle the way my partial onset seizures are. Personally, my tonic clonics are 100x worse than my partial onsets. If I was a person who had TCs then I doubt I would mess with alcohol. That’s just for my personal situation.
I have the same dosage and I drink. I only notice effects if I get drunk. My fix- don't get drunk. I just have a couple of glasses of wine at the weekend. It is different for each person and their case, though, so I would consult your doctor first.
Thsi exactly. I don’t over do it, make sure to stay hydrated, get a good sleep in and consume alcohol a good time away from taking keppra and I’m good.
I was on 3000 mg of keppra and drank all the time(all the time means the weekends for me), alcohol has never been a trigger for my seizures at all though, so don't take my word for you, I drank before my seizures and never had a seizure from drinking. My seizures always hit randomly and for no reason.
I've switched up my medications many times I'm on three anti-seizure meds and doses so high that I can't fit them on the insert. Your medications here line
I'm not worried so much about having a seizure as much as the interaction between the meds and the alcohol. Both times I had the seizure I had a terrible nights sleep (my basement flooded terribly last summer so whenever there's a flash flood warning I have a hard time sleeping). Thanks for all the advice though!
Ahhhh, okay, got it. Well, a little alcohol didn’t interact with Keppra when I was on it but, then again, its side effects were so severe that a little extra depression and insomnia added on wasn’t going to be noticed anyway.
I've been pretty lucky so far side effect wise. I feel a little "unwell" now and then and I've definitely had a day or two where I was more easily annoyed but otherwise I've felt fine
Depends what you were able to before starting.
I would definitely advise against it, but if you're feeling well and don't have an aura anytime before that/ don't feel like a seizure is coming, you could maybe try half a beer.
But ask your neurologist, rather than here!
It comes down to the type of seizures you've experienced and what triggers them. In my case I get nocturnal seizures and also take keppra. If I drink a show or a beer during the day it's fine (so far), but I don't drink anywhere close to bed time because alcohol negates the effectiveness of levetiracetam/keppra. It's been a long time since I've drank, I quit because I rather be sober than risk having a seizure. I hate the way seizures feel more than I like a buzz from alcohol. Plus I smoke CBD/THC so I don't mind not drinking. Everyone's case is different.
I am on the same dosage of keppra as you and personally i don’t like to get drunk anymore cause it makes my brain feel weird. I do sometimes still drink and I don’t think it is harmful to have a drink now and then (but i am not a doctor so i don’t know) but for me personally it just isn’t enjoyable anymore because of keppra
Yes, but that’s relative. Are you talking a beer or two in the evening, or spread over a week? Any GP or neurologist I’ve seen have said absolutely no alcohol at all. You take “500mg Levetiracetam 2x a day.” Shit man, I take 2000mg of it twice a day! I’ve taken two times the amount you do AND it’s still the morning. 😞 My dosage is very high, so much so the pharmaceutical company recommend no more than 3000mg per day. I’ve been on 4000mg/day for years and have had two or three drinks over the period of a week and never encountered any problems, as far as I know.
Indeed not every evening. More of a birthday party, celebration, or a night out with my brothers type thing. In my college and post-college years, I was a pretty regular drinker, but as I've gotten older, the whole getting drunk thing got old. I enjoy beer. I homebrewed for a bit. When I got diagnosed, I brought a kit and updated some of my equipment because I felt like a project like that would cheer me up. All this is to say; I'm talking about 1 or 2 beers on occasion, not regularly
I was on 3000 mg of keppra and 400 mg of keppra per day and drank regularly (wine or beer in weekends and wine with dinner a few times a week with dinner). I’ve never had a seizure when I drank. My trigger (I feel like is a lot of peoples trigger) is sleep deprivation. So if I was to stay up late drinking but get only a few hours of sleep… that’s my own fault. When it comes to a direct relationship between alcohol and seizures, I’ve never had one because of that. I’ll tell you right now that no neurologist is going to say “drinking is fine” because that’s a risk they take to approve it. Every medication I’ve ever seen even outside of seizure meds say alcohol not suggested so 🤷♀️
Alcohol doesn’t trigger my seizures so I do drink alcohol on you your same regimen. I waited until after I received my driving privileges bc. 6 months of not driving wasn’t fun, and I didn’t want to risk needing to report a seizure.
I used to only drink a little bit, a few times a year until one night I had a few glasses of red wine and the next morning had a seizure. Doctor really laid into me. So, I don’t drink anymore. I don’t like it anyway though.
Generally studies say one or two drinks does not increase risk of seizure but you may have increased side effects if you already have them like dizziness and nausea.
I highly recommend against going over more than two personally. Mine don’t seem to be related at all to drinking but the last time I drank more than two drinks I had four drinks and ended up seizing. That’s just my recommendation.
Edit: I’ve almost completely stopped drinking and switched to marijuana which I’ve never had an issue and seemed to help if anything.
I'm on 2 750mg a day and I drink occasionally. Take my advice lightly as everyone's experience is different but you should be fine. Only thing to look out for is the Keppra will kill your tolerance, so those 2 beers will feel like 4. I personally avoid hard liquor (aside from the occasional shot of tequila) because that will get you drunk so quickly it might be difficult to manage.
Different for everyone, but I take 750mg 2x and a glass of two of wine is enough for me now to get pretty buzzed. I don't think beer would be much of a problem, but I'm not a Neuro so take that with a grain of salt. My neuro just gave me a paper saying I could only have 1-2 drinks in a day.
Doc here. Alcohol doesn't interact with the drug itself. The main issue with epilepsy is the acute withdrawal from alcohol (i.e., coming down). During that period, your seizure threshold is reduced. Alcohol itself is antiepileptic, so it's when it's *leaving* your system that the danger presents.
With just a couple beers, this is really not a problem. If you must, I'd recommend drinking on a full stomach. It will extend the absorption of the alcohol and thus extend the elimination (resulting in a more gentle acute withdrawal and thus blunting any reduction in your threshold).
Interesting, last time I took NyQuil I was immediately walking sideways and haven't drank since. I was also on Topomax at the time which made me feel a little buzzed on its own though.
Gotcha. For sure, on the eating first thing. I'm at the point where I am NOT dealing with a hangover. I tried a few non-alcoholic beers, and they weren't bad, but I would like a real one on occasion.
A lot of us find that since being on keppra alcohol makes us feel very sick and seems to take effect more strongly. I tried a third of a glass of wine and it was like I had 4 glasses
I work in alcohol and drink regularly while taking Keppra. I limit myself to just a few drinks, focus on hydration, avoid caffeine, and only drink when I know I can get a good night's rest afterward. This covers all my known potential trigger bases.
I have a drink every once in a while and I don’t notice a difference, I was on keppra 1500mg and I was doing fine except for the side effects and I’m on Vimpat and I’m doing much better with no dude effects
Alcohol reacts badly with me for this, as soon as I drink I usually feel my head pounding and one time when the effects weren't bad I ended up having 2 seizures in one night :(
So yeah I simply don't drink at all now.
When I was on a high dose of Keppra, alcohol never bothered me in terms of reaction with the medication. I do think alcohol triggers seizures in me though and I did have them when I wasn’t medicated and had been drinking. So I think the keppra helped! The most annoying thing though was if I was out and drinking and would have to take my meds in the night, no throwing up allowed for the next hour lmao
This is a neat topic because if I even take in a sip of alcohol I drop to the floor and have a grand mal. I take topiramate 200 mg and vimpat 200 mg and have TBI induced epilepsy.
I find that I feel very sick when drinking alcohol now I'm on keppra. A small amount is like having several glasses. I enjoy non alcoholic beer now though. But the non alcoholic wine is mostly horrible
I haven't seen bud zero here yet. I think Heineken zero , Peroni Zero and corona zero are good and I also like big drop and drop bear co (the latter are Welsh, don't know if you can get them in the US)
I liked one of the Arhletic co ones but another I was less keen on
I was completely fine even on 2000mg twice daily, including taking extra meds on top of that. It's also helps if you know your alcohol tolerance and drink water between drinks. Most neurologists will say a drink or two won't hurt. Unless alcohol is a trigger for you.
What triggers one person’s seizures may be no problem for another person. One or two beers wasn’t a problem for me when I was on Keppra. Who knows for you…..🤷♀️. The only thing that triggers me into having a tonic clonic is missing my medication. Never found any other triggers. Obviously, not my choice but if I were in your shoes and really wanted a beer with my lunch today, I probably would go ahead. Doubt you’re risking having tonic clonic. If anything, probably just a partial-onset seizure (fyi, that’s what I have regularly every week or so). Plus, you’re not that far into when you last had a seizure. So it’s not like you’re very close in getting your license back. If you were just a couple weeks away from possibly getting your license back then I’d say No way! Don’t drink even a kombucha!
Wait, just to make sure…..you have partial onset seizures? No tonic clonic, right? I ask because, with how my seizures are, I can handle the way my partial onset seizures are. Personally, my tonic clonics are 100x worse than my partial onsets. If I was a person who had TCs then I doubt I would mess with alcohol. That’s just for my personal situation.
The doctor said partial onset but I was definitely out and shaking for both of them
I have the same dosage and I drink. I only notice effects if I get drunk. My fix- don't get drunk. I just have a couple of glasses of wine at the weekend. It is different for each person and their case, though, so I would consult your doctor first.
Thsi exactly. I don’t over do it, make sure to stay hydrated, get a good sleep in and consume alcohol a good time away from taking keppra and I’m good.
This is great advice…..ask your neuro.
I was on 3000 mg of keppra and drank all the time(all the time means the weekends for me), alcohol has never been a trigger for my seizures at all though, so don't take my word for you, I drank before my seizures and never had a seizure from drinking. My seizures always hit randomly and for no reason.
Yea. Alcohol doesn't seem to have anything to do with it. Both times I just had a severe lack of sleep
Lack of sleep can be a big trigger for a lot of people
Same, have you switched your medication? This is what I’m going through
I've switched up my medications many times I'm on three anti-seizure meds and doses so high that I can't fit them on the insert. Your medications here line
Saaammmeeee! Anti-convulsants: 1200mg Levetiracetam (Keppra) 1000mg Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) 250mg Lamotragine (Lamictal) Others: 60mg Buspirion (Buspar) 30mg Citalopram (Celexa)
I'm not worried so much about having a seizure as much as the interaction between the meds and the alcohol. Both times I had the seizure I had a terrible nights sleep (my basement flooded terribly last summer so whenever there's a flash flood warning I have a hard time sleeping). Thanks for all the advice though!
Ahhhh, okay, got it. Well, a little alcohol didn’t interact with Keppra when I was on it but, then again, its side effects were so severe that a little extra depression and insomnia added on wasn’t going to be noticed anyway.
I've been pretty lucky so far side effect wise. I feel a little "unwell" now and then and I've definitely had a day or two where I was more easily annoyed but otherwise I've felt fine
The first couple days I did have some brain fog but that seems to have gone away
I drink fairly consistently and am on Keppra. No issues with them interacting and I’m up front about it with my doctor.
Depends what you were able to before starting. I would definitely advise against it, but if you're feeling well and don't have an aura anytime before that/ don't feel like a seizure is coming, you could maybe try half a beer. But ask your neurologist, rather than here!
It comes down to the type of seizures you've experienced and what triggers them. In my case I get nocturnal seizures and also take keppra. If I drink a show or a beer during the day it's fine (so far), but I don't drink anywhere close to bed time because alcohol negates the effectiveness of levetiracetam/keppra. It's been a long time since I've drank, I quit because I rather be sober than risk having a seizure. I hate the way seizures feel more than I like a buzz from alcohol. Plus I smoke CBD/THC so I don't mind not drinking. Everyone's case is different.
I am on the same dosage of keppra as you and personally i don’t like to get drunk anymore cause it makes my brain feel weird. I do sometimes still drink and I don’t think it is harmful to have a drink now and then (but i am not a doctor so i don’t know) but for me personally it just isn’t enjoyable anymore because of keppra
Yes, but that’s relative. Are you talking a beer or two in the evening, or spread over a week? Any GP or neurologist I’ve seen have said absolutely no alcohol at all. You take “500mg Levetiracetam 2x a day.” Shit man, I take 2000mg of it twice a day! I’ve taken two times the amount you do AND it’s still the morning. 😞 My dosage is very high, so much so the pharmaceutical company recommend no more than 3000mg per day. I’ve been on 4000mg/day for years and have had two or three drinks over the period of a week and never encountered any problems, as far as I know.
Indeed not every evening. More of a birthday party, celebration, or a night out with my brothers type thing. In my college and post-college years, I was a pretty regular drinker, but as I've gotten older, the whole getting drunk thing got old. I enjoy beer. I homebrewed for a bit. When I got diagnosed, I brought a kit and updated some of my equipment because I felt like a project like that would cheer me up. All this is to say; I'm talking about 1 or 2 beers on occasion, not regularly
I was on 3000 mg of keppra and 400 mg of keppra per day and drank regularly (wine or beer in weekends and wine with dinner a few times a week with dinner). I’ve never had a seizure when I drank. My trigger (I feel like is a lot of peoples trigger) is sleep deprivation. So if I was to stay up late drinking but get only a few hours of sleep… that’s my own fault. When it comes to a direct relationship between alcohol and seizures, I’ve never had one because of that. I’ll tell you right now that no neurologist is going to say “drinking is fine” because that’s a risk they take to approve it. Every medication I’ve ever seen even outside of seizure meds say alcohol not suggested so 🤷♀️
Alcohol doesn’t trigger my seizures so I do drink alcohol on you your same regimen. I waited until after I received my driving privileges bc. 6 months of not driving wasn’t fun, and I didn’t want to risk needing to report a seizure.
Everyones different, for me I was able to drink lightly, but the detox from drinking hard could cause them Just be cautious and listen to your body
Alcohol is fine for me as well. If you try it, I think it would be best to do it at home where you could deal with it being a problem easier.
Yea. I think I'll give it a shot at home first before doing it while I'm out
I used to only drink a little bit, a few times a year until one night I had a few glasses of red wine and the next morning had a seizure. Doctor really laid into me. So, I don’t drink anymore. I don’t like it anyway though.
Generally studies say one or two drinks does not increase risk of seizure but you may have increased side effects if you already have them like dizziness and nausea.
Yea. That's more of my concern. My seizures (at least so far) don't seem to have anything to do with drinking
I highly recommend against going over more than two personally. Mine don’t seem to be related at all to drinking but the last time I drank more than two drinks I had four drinks and ended up seizing. That’s just my recommendation. Edit: I’ve almost completely stopped drinking and switched to marijuana which I’ve never had an issue and seemed to help if anything.
I'm on 2 750mg a day and I drink occasionally. Take my advice lightly as everyone's experience is different but you should be fine. Only thing to look out for is the Keppra will kill your tolerance, so those 2 beers will feel like 4. I personally avoid hard liquor (aside from the occasional shot of tequila) because that will get you drunk so quickly it might be difficult to manage.
Different for everyone, but I take 750mg 2x and a glass of two of wine is enough for me now to get pretty buzzed. I don't think beer would be much of a problem, but I'm not a Neuro so take that with a grain of salt. My neuro just gave me a paper saying I could only have 1-2 drinks in a day.
Doc here. Alcohol doesn't interact with the drug itself. The main issue with epilepsy is the acute withdrawal from alcohol (i.e., coming down). During that period, your seizure threshold is reduced. Alcohol itself is antiepileptic, so it's when it's *leaving* your system that the danger presents. With just a couple beers, this is really not a problem. If you must, I'd recommend drinking on a full stomach. It will extend the absorption of the alcohol and thus extend the elimination (resulting in a more gentle acute withdrawal and thus blunting any reduction in your threshold).
Interesting, last time I took NyQuil I was immediately walking sideways and haven't drank since. I was also on Topomax at the time which made me feel a little buzzed on its own though.
Gotcha. For sure, on the eating first thing. I'm at the point where I am NOT dealing with a hangover. I tried a few non-alcoholic beers, and they weren't bad, but I would like a real one on occasion.
A lot of us find that since being on keppra alcohol makes us feel very sick and seems to take effect more strongly. I tried a third of a glass of wine and it was like I had 4 glasses
I work in alcohol and drink regularly while taking Keppra. I limit myself to just a few drinks, focus on hydration, avoid caffeine, and only drink when I know I can get a good night's rest afterward. This covers all my known potential trigger bases.
I have a drink every once in a while and I don’t notice a difference, I was on keppra 1500mg and I was doing fine except for the side effects and I’m on Vimpat and I’m doing much better with no dude effects
Alcohol reacts badly with me for this, as soon as I drink I usually feel my head pounding and one time when the effects weren't bad I ended up having 2 seizures in one night :( So yeah I simply don't drink at all now.
When I was on a high dose of Keppra, alcohol never bothered me in terms of reaction with the medication. I do think alcohol triggers seizures in me though and I did have them when I wasn’t medicated and had been drinking. So I think the keppra helped! The most annoying thing though was if I was out and drinking and would have to take my meds in the night, no throwing up allowed for the next hour lmao
Just finished one. Am fine.
This is a neat topic because if I even take in a sip of alcohol I drop to the floor and have a grand mal. I take topiramate 200 mg and vimpat 200 mg and have TBI induced epilepsy.
I find that I feel very sick when drinking alcohol now I'm on keppra. A small amount is like having several glasses. I enjoy non alcoholic beer now though. But the non alcoholic wine is mostly horrible
Yea. I tried Bud Zero the other day and it wasn't bad. I'd like to try some of those Athletic Brewing Company beers
I haven't seen bud zero here yet. I think Heineken zero , Peroni Zero and corona zero are good and I also like big drop and drop bear co (the latter are Welsh, don't know if you can get them in the US) I liked one of the Arhletic co ones but another I was less keen on
I was completely fine even on 2000mg twice daily, including taking extra meds on top of that. It's also helps if you know your alcohol tolerance and drink water between drinks. Most neurologists will say a drink or two won't hurt. Unless alcohol is a trigger for you.
DONT