KEPPRA XR vs LEVETIRACETAM ER

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

S

sturg

New
Messages
67
Reaction score
0
Points
0
My doctor is putting me on 3 brand only keppra xr 500 mgs a day & caremark/cvs has quoted me $877.00 for a 90 day supply! The generic i levetiracetam er which has a 90 day cost of $16.00!
When i try to take the generic i get mild headaches- that is why the doctor is trying to put me on brand only. Help!!!!!! Sturg
 
With a price difference like that, my advice to you would be to insist to your doctor (or pharmacist) that you be given the generic brand, as long as the ACTIVE CONSTITUENTS are the same. They all know, or should know, what this means and if they don't then go to someone else. If your doctor appears to favour a particular brand (ie: will not prescribe generic), ask him why - and cross reference his reason with a pharmacist. If there is no good reason, insist on generic and take acetaminophen/tylenol as required for the mild headache (as long as your liver function is ok). The side effects of levetiracetam/keppra do reduce after a week or so - I know this from personal experience and from research of the drug before I started on it. In everything associated with your healthcare, you are always entitled to question and question until you are satisfied with the answer, and to a second opinion. Good luck.
 
Ive never been on a generic seizure medication ever. Ive always been on name brand. Last year I did ask about the generic Keppra. I talked it over with my dr's nurse and after discussing things, since Ive been only on the name brand, and things have been going very well, I didnt want to risk that and start having seizures with the generic. So I kept the name brand Keppra. I take Keppra XR (Name Brand) and pay $150 for a 6 month supply. I take 3000mgs a day, (3 pills in the morning, 3 pills at night, for a total of 6 pills a day) 500mg tablets.

If anything, I agree with mjain2 and Id look into things alittle more. I know thats a huge price difference! So do what you feel is right.
 
I take generic keppra 1750mg a day. My headaches lessened with time. I also made some lifestyle adjustments which helped with the headaches and I get migraines too.

I simply can't afford the brand name and life is better with the keppra. Maybe the headaches will improve with time.
 
I will start generic keppra XR 500 MGS 3 times a day tonight. Thanks for all your responses. Insurance in this country is.sick! I am a retired AT&T worker of +20 years & this is what my coverage delivers. It's interesting that I checked with Caremark to see what the cost of going on brand only Keppra 750 MGS - 2 times daily & the cost for a 90 day supply is
$1,067.01. There is such variability in medication costs for everyone. I sat at CVS for 40 minutes yesterday & watched the pure frustration of about 75% of the customers who were picking up meds. There is no order, explanation or compassion for any of the customers. The pharmaceutical companies are a good view of what has happened to medication access in the world for we who have epilepsy. There is no reason why in some areas of the world you have to pay over $1000 for a medication that others can get for under $20. no wonder Caremark went one up 17% last quarter. What will the future bring?- Sturg
 
Hope it goes well for you.

I forgot to mention this...at first the neuro put me on one dosage of keppra, then changed it, then my epileptologist changed it again. By documenting the side effects/daily life I found the right dose and times myself and my epileptologist ok's it.

500mg am, 500mg afternoon, 750mg bedtime. The neuro had me breaking 500 mg pills in half to reach the 750mg but that made me sick. So now they do 2 diff prescrips 1 for the 500mg and 1 for the 750mg.
 
You have to be careful with generics. They only have to have 80% of the effective medicine to be legal. You might have to adjust your dose on generics. I had a break through seizure after the pharmacy gave me the generic for Lamictal without notifying me.

That being said, I once was given a 6 months supply of Keppra instead of my usual 30 day supply by accident and was told oops! Their fault, my gain. That told me that the Keppra wasn't worth the $150 a month I was told it cost (for 30 pills)!
 
I WAS on the brand name Keppra after the generic made my throat very sore. I JUST switched to the generic XR version, and upped my dose, and so far I haven't seemed to have issues (though I'm only on day two!)
 
I am retired from AT&T & my perscription plan is with caremark/cvs-they told me that 2 brand name Keppra 750 pills would cost me over $1000 for a 90 day supply! Heroin would be cheaper-lol-Sturg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom