Keppra and stroke.

My wife was diagnosed with Epilepsy approximately two years ago and her previous Neurologist put her on Topomax (topamax) for her severe headaches (it seemed to help); it helped for a while, but then she went through a very stressful situation that caused her seizures to begin again after about 6 months.  The seizures seemed to get considerably worse.  We had to get a new Neurologist when we moved and she put my wife on Keppra, while still on the Topomax (topamax).  The Keppra caused my wife to hallucinate just prior to her seizures, she became very depressed, she got really bad headaches, and her seizures became much worse.  Right after we spoke with her Neurologist about the negative side-effects, she told my wife to discontinue the Keppra and she started her on Lamictal, which she seems to be doing its job much more effectively.  The day that she stopped taking the Keppra, she told me that she had a bad headache in the front of her head (frontal lobe area) and then she took a short nap; when she woke up, she appeared to have a speech impediment. We spoke with her Neurologist about it and she stated that she believed that it was possibly due to the Keppra still in her system.  It's now been approximately two weeks and her speech shows very little improvement.  Is it possible that she could have had a small stroke without any other symptoms while napping?

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

Yes that is a possibility. The speech impediment if due to keppra should have recovered by now. This requires further evaluation, please do not hesitate to get her neurological exam done and also tests like MRI to rule out the possibility of stroke.
Take care!