Thread: Kreppa

Dr,

Firstly excuse the grAmmar in my post.. I am writing from my phone so it may sound a bit funny and may be worded horribly lol.

I have a client who I have been training for about a year now. He had been training previously with another trainer for about a year as well but never really did free weights.

When he started with me he started to use free weights and as usual he was unsteady and a bit shakey.. Nothing out of the norm. However the months go by and he really struggles to make the smallest of improvements with the free weights. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago and he has made small impovements over the year but nothing like you would expect to see over a year. I almost put it down to his age (56) and that maybe he just wasn't eating properly ( although he wasn't scoffing down food all day, even average eating would of been sufficient to increase you bench to 60kg.

So anyways last week we do the usual but he does more reps than usual, I think finally, we then move onto dumbbell and not only does he do dumbbell that are 5kg heavier but he was so smoth and controlled (usually he was just shakey and uncoordinated), we also finally broke 60kg bench today.. 2 reps ( only took 12 months). We move into squats and usually I would be watching him carefully because he was a bit uncoordinated, presently he is smooth and controlled.

Now you can understand my confusion, out of no where he has shaken off his clumsiness and horrible coordination. I said to him how great he was going and that what he's done in the last 2 weeks is impressive. He said thanks for noticing.. I asked what have you done differently.. He told me that he halved his day dose of kreppa which is a epilepsy drug. He said it creates a cloud over his brain and seems to think he can't think properly and do anything correctly in the way of coordination. Today he told me he has started to taper down his night dose too. Although he seems to function a lot better without this drug and I am a little concerned that he might be putting himself at risk.

Tonighted I googled kreppa side effects and found that coordination problems and accident prone were both in the 'less likely' category side effects.

What are your thoughts on this? He said kreppa is an unusual drug and not common. He only has kreppa because he was having reactions to the normal epilepsy drugs. Should he continue to taper off or is he putting himself in real danger?

Union, he really should be seeking guidance from his treating/prescribing doctor. This isn't my area of expertise, but you're absolutely right in worrying about what might occur if he drops his dose without medical supervision and guidance.

It is true that a lot of membrane stabilising medication can have side effects, but he must have quite a moderate to severe form of epilepsy. (?)

He needs to weigh up possible dangers to possible gains, not to mention possibly putting others at risk, not only in the gym, but on the roads or in the workplace.

A very responsible post mate - tell him to get to his GP!

BD

I have told him to get advice from his dr and he said he will... Eventually. I think he might have a moderate to severe form of epilepsy... I remember him mentioning frontal lobaL epilepsy??

He works from home and rides a little scooter because he doesn't want to hurt anyone. Said he would rather end up under a bus then live on that drug for the rest of his life... Now knowing what it does to him anyway.

Hope its ok to butt in. Frontal lobe epilepsy is a bit different to the 'stock standard' epilepsy (temporal). They can just cause muscle weakness or cause a temporary inability to talk or involuntary laughter/screams and weird body positions. Not sure about triggers apart from issues with the brain itself. Triggers for 'standard' epilepsy can be tiredness, stress/anxiety etc.

I don't know anything about medication for this form. I do know that neurologists balance medication levels in the blood (something like that) so yes, cant just muck around with drug dosages.

ps i used to have temporal lobe seizures (or grand mal).