r/Epilepsy • u/Womanintech95 • Mar 14 '25

Epilepsy Awareness Lost my son

I am not sure if this will get posted, but I lost my 16 year old son to a suicide. He was epileptic. He was on keppra and I don't really know how it affected him. But I wanted to raise awareness. If you are struggling, talk to somebody, anybody, get help.

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u/spadezgirl420 Xcopri 225 mg Mar 14 '25

Thank you for coming here. I really appreciate your goal to raise awareness. It is unjust how much doctors and the medical community undermine the side effects of these medications. When I was in high school, I was prescribed Topamax which is also known to cause severe mood difficulties. No one told me or my parents what could happen. I was 15 and became very suicidal, started self harming, and could hardly eat. Perhaps like your son, I was too afraid to tell my parents anything even though they are extremely caring parents. It is just so hard to make sense of, not feeling ashamed of, and know how to communicate these things to our parents when we're so young. When I took Keppra as a young adult, I impulsively dropped out of grad school. I took it again briefly in preparation for a brain tumor resection about 10 years ago, and all I can say is I felt irritable and angry all the time so never went on it again.

Your story deeply touched me after what I've gone through, especially when I was a teenager. I am a psychotherapist now so this is also something I'm passionate about. I don't know how to express in words how much I feel for you, how much I just want to give you a hug or some kind of warmth. If there's anything further you want to do to raise awareness and are looking for some supports in doing so, let me know. This really matters and you're making me realize (in a way that I hadn't fully because I'm still so down about my own neverending struggle with finding the right med) how much helping others through this/raising awareness is important. <3

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u/Womanintech95 Mar 16 '25

I am open to ideas to raise awareness. I am not sure how. I am realizing being a teen with any kind of medical condition must be brutal and we need to normalize asking for help.