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@A myALZteam Member: When my son had his Traumatic Brain Injury, the TBI caused him to have seizures and he was put on Keppra -- with the same problem about the size of the pills -- BUT in another post, you wrote something potentially important, that caught my attention:
"Lately he's always frustrated and refusing so many things. The frustration and they way he bugs out his eyes, tightens his jaw, and waves his fists in the air is scary! I just gave him a pill and he did it again."
This brought to mind a rare but well-known side effect called "Keppra Rage" that can develop over time. My son had to stop taking Keppra because of it, and was given Divalproex Sodium (generic form of Depakote) in its place. I'm wondering if your husband might need his seizure medication changed.
When you look at "Side Effects" for Keppra, you're apt to see "Aggression" listed -- but "Keppra Rage" is a well-known phenomenon and is AGGRESSION, in all caps. Another well-known issue with Keppra is suicidality, which affects about 1 in 530 users.
Here's a reference:
https://nortonhealthcare.com/news/keppra-rage-i...
@A myALZteam Member: My husband doesn't take any ALZ meds at this time, but ALZ did make him diabetic, so he now takes diabetes meds. Never having taken any pills in his life, (except for a tiny Vitamin D) the diabetes pills have been a challenge to swallow. His favorite way is to take them with sugar-free yogurt.
His Neurologist recently prescribed alprazolam (generic Xanax), just in case it's needed, for anxiety -- because we have an upcoming trip and we went through a bad episode of anxiety on a prior trip. I asked the pharmacist if the pills can be crushed (they can), so I bought a very small mortar & pestle. If those pills are needed, they will simply disappear into a cup of yogurt.
@A myALZteam Member: Great information, Thank you! I'm going to bring the article to my husbands next Neurologist appointment as well as talking about Divalproex Sodium (generic form of Depakote).
@A myALZteam Member thank you for your reply. My husband has been taking Memantine 10mg 2x daily and Donepezil 10 mg at bedtime, his Neurologist prescribed both 5 or 6 years ago and said he wouldn't ever increase the amounts. He's left the practice, and we've seen a new Neurologist that we don't like, his bedside manner is awful. We've seen him only 2 times, remembering the 2nd time we met with him why we only met him once before! He wasn't happy when I refused to have my husband put through all of the memory testing. I told him it would be a waste of our time, and his time, etc. Ask any question(s) now and you can see he cannot tell you his birthdate, what city or state we're in, what year it is, who is the president, and forget any math or drawing a clock! The Doc didn't like my response! Anyhow I don't see why my husband should continue to take the 2 meds even though I can crush them. The hard one is Levetiractetam its generic for Keppra an anti-seizure medication. It's not supposed to be chewed or have it crushed. He was prescribed the medication in the hospital when he had a 2nd seizure by a Doctor I don't personally know. The horse pill was too big and he was often chewing it! I called his PCP who prescribed a small pill but now he has to take 3 pills which doesn't make it any easier! Now he often refuses to take the medicine. I'm going to ask about a liquid form and probably contact the hospital doctor, since PCP and Neurologist aren't helpful.
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