Update

I had an appointment with my neurologist this afternoon. Turns out the 2nd EEG test I did back in October was completely normal. The "slowing" that had shown back in September was not detected this time. Having said that, she said I should continue with Keppra at the current dose (1000mg/day) till at least September 2010 and then, if there is no further seizure activity, we can start tapering that dose.

I took the opportunity to ask her if Keppra was ok to use during pregnancy. At some point in 2010, I would like to try having another baby. I know that Predinisone and Plaquenil are both ok during pregnancy but there are virtually no studies on Keppra. She said it should be fine to use Keppra during pregnancy but she did advise to take a high dose of Folic Acid (minimum 5 mg) before I actually get pregnant. She said the most impact these drugs have on a fetus are physical and spinal deformities and those are determined in the first 6 weeks of life in the womb, well before a woman even knows she's pregnant. She also said that there are two high-risk obstetricians at York Central Hospital who I would most likely be referred to should I get pregnant. That made me feel better. I messaged a friend of mine from work who was on a 5mg dose of folic acid after her first miscarriage (her 2nd baby is perfectly healthy) and she said she was taking something called PregVit. It is a prescription drug, not over the counter so I have to ask my rheumy about that at my Nov 30 appointment. It will be in God's hands after that.

My weight reached 105 lbs today which I was grateful for, but I have a problem which has been getting more serious over the last week. I have nausea all the time. It started with random bouts throughout the day which would get better after I ate something but the last two days, the nausea has been constant and I've come close to vomiting a couple of times. The only thing I think of is that nausea is a side effect of the Plaquenil. I've been on Plaquenil for 2 months now but I didn't think the effects would show so soon. In fact, I was under the impression that Plaquenil didn't have side effects at all (besides the eye thing). I guess we'll wait and see how it goes. I have to remember to mention this to the rheumy on Nov 30 too.

Other than that, the insomnia continues randomly. I was awake till 4 am last night (or this morning) but the good news is that the insomnia is much less frequent than it was a couple of weeks ago. I do sleep well most nights these days.

I'm going to taper my Prednisone to 7.5 mg starting Nov 12. Here's hoping that goes alright. So far, the tapering has been going well (thank God) so I'm hoping I can taper to zero mg without incident and keep it that way.