How Can Seizures Be Treated In A 5-year-old Who Is Diagnosed With Hepatitis-C?

Posted on Sun, 1 Apr 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 1 Apr 2018 Answered on

Tue, 30 May 2023 Last reviewed on

Question : my 5 year old daughter has Hepatitis C. She had one seizure where she fazed out and did some lip smacking but she needed medicine to get her to stop seizuring. She has autism and does not want to take medicine. The doctor put her on liquid Keppra. I could not get her to take the medicine everyday as she would either spit it out or refuse to take it. I started at 1 ml at hour of sleep. After four weeks I finally got her to take it every night so I increased to 1 ml BID. After three weeks I increased to 1ml at AM and 2 ml at PM, finally after another two weeks I got her to take 2 ml BID. Was this dangerous to increase so slowly? I was concerned about increasing more quickly and damaging her kidneys

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (32 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
No need to worry

Detailed Answer:

Hello,

Keppra (Levetiracetam) is an anticonvulsant. Needless to say that it is important to reach a standard level of the drug in the blood so that no further convulsive episodes occur. Although slow increase in dose does not have any safety concerns, a sub-optimal blood concentration could be the cause of seizures during this period. I assume that the mentioned episode of seizure was prior to the medication. Now that the drug dose has already been increased you need not worry further.

Almost all antiepileptics have side effects. Given their implications, it is not worth getting worried about side effects. Recent antiepileptics like Keppra are relatively safe.

Hope I have answered your query.

Regards,
Dr. Diptanshu Das
Pediatrician

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad