[clairekim]

Hi Hopeful,

I am sorry to hear about your dad. We all know what you are going through. We will help!!

My wife is also epileptic. She is taking 750mg of Keppra XR once daily. She was initially on Dilantin, but we got off it right away after she was showing immediate side effects (rashes). After about 2~3 years of taking Keppra, she was diagnosed of SAA.

I had a question. You mentioned that your father was on Dilantin and the doctors thought it was Dilantin which may have started his SAA. So was your father on Dilantin when he was first diagnosed with AA?

My wife just had her morning pills and is feeling very fatigue. She fell asleep. This is natural(?) for her after her morning medication. It hurts so much that she is taking so many pills.....

Have you asked your doctor about eltrombopeg (Promecta)? This is a new medication which is now FDA approved for AA patients who are refractory (no response) to ATG or had a relapse (e.g. - my wife). They say this medication is a medical breakthrough for SAA patients. They are quite expensive ($6k/month at minimal dosage) if you don't have full insurance coverage.

Good luck. Please do let me know if your father was on Dilantin when he was diagnosed with AA. These anti-convulsant medications must be really bad... we should have not started taking them as my wife's seizure wasn't that frequent (once per month or less).

David Kim