Does Keppra Have Anti OCD Effects?

Posted on Thu, 20 Nov 2014

Question: I am on Lexapro 40 mg, Klonopin 2 mg, Solian (amisulpride 100mg) and Keppra 1500mg. Since i have some OCD symptoms caused by Solian because of agonism of 5HT7 and 5HT2b receptors and dopaminergic activity, my psychiatrist decided firts to give me a higher dosage of Lexapro (i was on 30 mg) and now higher of Keppra (i was on 1000mg). I would like to know if Keppra has any anti OCD effect or if it helps to the metabolism and plasma concentrations of Lexapro, because i was told here that it makes it but my psychiatrist says that there is no enzymatic interaction between Keppra and Lexapro, so it's only anti OCD effect of Keppra. I would like to know what exactly happens since Keppra seems to help.
Thanks beforehand

Answered by Dr. Ravi Soni (55 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
keppra has not any confirned anti OCD effects

Detailed Answer:
Hi, thanks for your query.

I am very sorry for my last comment in which I have misread or misunderstood your question and confused my mind with some other drugs.

Keppra has no significant drug interaction and it does not increase the plasma concentration of lexapro (I am correcting my words).

But it is important to admit here that the anti-OCD effects are not well documented for keppra. It has been found to soemwhat effective in tourette syndrome (kind of tic disorder in children) and shoud not be used as primary drug for OCD symptoms.

There are reports of increase OCD tendency and behavior after taking keppra for long time. You can find these confusing statement about keppra on the internet. So when a drug is not indicated for particular disorder, it should not be used. Keppra may help but it can worsen your condition also.

There are no head to head comparison trial of keppra with other proven anti-OCD drugs. There are no trial done for keppra in OCD treatment, I cant find it.

I here apologize for my opinion in the previous query but adding that keppra wont be of any help. It might be placebo effect which can appear with multi vitamins but if you are actually improving then enjoy the improvement and continue the keppra. The effects may be of increased dose of lexapro even.

I hope this will be helpful to you. Hope i have answered your query. Wishing you good health.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj