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AA from Seizure Meds
Dear Bill, It pains me that I am replying to this post....yes, my daughter acquired SAA after taking Lamictal. Like you said, almost all the seizure meds have the ability to reduce blood counts.
I should have logged on here a year and a half ago...but I was busy with my daughter and posting on CaringBridge. First of all, everyone has a seizure threshold...what sets off one person from the next can be very different. My daughter had her first absense seizure on 9/22/08. After she produced two more (which were more like myoclonic seiuzres) they started her on Lamictal. YEAH, you got to love that word idiopathic!!!!!!!!! I hear it all the time.
After finally working up to the required dose of Lamictal and the seizures did not go away....they sent her for a blood test to make sure her kidneys looked okay before trying another medication. GUESS WHAT -- that was December 17, 2008 and all her counts were DOWN.
By January 27, 2009, my 15 year old daughter was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia. Needless to say the seizures took a back seat! She went through her first round of IST in March of 2009 with no response. She went through her second round of IST in October 2009 with a partial response.
I am happy to say (after being in and out of the hospital so many times between the SAA and seizures) they finally got her seizures under control in December of last year. So, we have been on Keppra (2000 mg.) a day for that....I can't even begin to bore you with all the drugs we have been through.
As of today, she is seizure free, and transfusion free since March of this year. Her counts are OKAY. They don't think her platelets are going to get any better - she hovers in the 50,000 range. She just started her senior year at school after being out for 1 1/2 years.
We continue to look for her bone marrow match - since we don't have one. We go to UCLA, but also are seen at the NIH.
Good luck to you. I would be happy to answer anything you may want to know.
This little blurb below (in blue) is out of date...I will need to figure out how to fix that.
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Candy, mother of Mia age 17, diagnosed SAA January 2009; treated with ATG (Rabbit) in 3/2009; treated with ATG (Horse) in 10/2009; Finished a fast taper of cyclosporine (recommended by NIH on 9/7/2010). So far, partial response.
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