topamax, bad drug?

[tortis]

Hi everyone, I know I posted about this med. in the general but I really need more responses from people who have taken it. Everything I have found has been really negative,dopeamax, makes you as dumb as a box of rocks, kidney stones, eye problems, high heart rate and many more. Any help would be really appreciated, thanks in advance
Tortis

[Redwings]

Hi tortis:
ALL drugs have side effects. The trick is to match the drug to the appropriate person so that the benefits outweigh the risks. For appropriate patients, Topomax is a good drug, giving them a quality of life they might not have otherwise. For other patients, they don't get the effect they want, the side effects are bad and intolerable, and for them it's a bad drug. If you ask around, you'll hear experiences on both sides.

I haven't taken Topomax, but I have had to stop a couple of drugs that were working well because I couldn't tolerate the side effects. But I wouldn't have known if I hadn't tried them.

Topomax is definitely a drug that requires a lot of respect and careful monitoring. It's use is very individual, with many trade-offs. The questions to ask yourself are: What do I want, what am I willing to risk to get it, and is there any other way to get at least some of what I want without having to risk so much?

A good guideline is that if someone is more afraid of the drug than they are of the condition the drug is intended to treat, they shouldn't be taking it.

[akafearless]

I take it to prevent migraines. Have no side effects from it that I'm aware.

[33NaNa]

topamax

I had a seizure May 20th and was in the ICU for 2 days and that is one of the drugs they gave me. I thought I was in a mental hospital. Do not remember most of the time there. Do not remember the ride home. (which is over and hour from the hospital) The doctor gave me a prescription for topamax and I did not get it filled and got me another doctor.

I went to my family doc and he sent me to another specialist. I am going to start on Kappra tomorrow for the seizures. Not really sure if it will be any better. I am on Dilatan right now and no side effects. Hope I still can take something and have a clear mind. I still work and run my own bussinness.

[sw8689]

Topomax

Has been a real lifesaver for me for nerve pain. I have reduced it a bit since on cymbalta this past couple of months but still need it. Yes it has that dumbing affect at higher doses, and at the beginning in lowere doses, it has to be titrated up very slowly and titrated down very slowly. And when I say up very slowly I mean cutting the 25mg in half at a time if you don't want to feel the cognitive Ffects.

It is the only pain relief med I have taken that helped me significantly without weight gain, in fact helped me lose tha weight the other pain meds made me gain.

The side effects are just as significant as other pain killers, and it's an individual tolerance thing.

Hope this helps

[Kelsey.23]

Topomax has been great to me. I have been on it for three years, at first for migraines, but it stopped my daily headaches altogether. I have had none of the side effects you listed. The only trouble I had was that I had to very slowly raise my dose because I got tingly hands if I increased too quickly.

In my opinion (for my health) it's been amazing.

[valeriem2220]

I tried this and ended up being allergic to the med, so the Dr thinks anyway.
I had a horrific migraine within 3 days of starting the med.

[mommyto3angels]

The first 2 weeks of taking it was hell but once my body adjusted to it I love it. The nerve pain has drastically declined, to the point I went from taking 5-6 vicodin a day down to maybe 2. I also have alot less headaches. I also didnt have the weight gain like I did with the cymbalta and lyrica. If you can make it thru the first few weeks of your body adjusting to it then it will become a drug you wont want to live without in my personal experiance.

I am wanting the dr to taper me off the lyrica and cymbalta but the thought of going off the topomax hasnt crossed my mind. Google patient reviews, Talk to your dr and maybe have a few months trail period. Its a personal decision you and your dr need to make together but from my experaince the worst part was just when your body adjusted to it.I hope this helped you a lil

[sw8689]

Hi mommytothreeangels, I agree with you the hardest part is getting used to it.

Titrate up slowly, so slow it seems ridiculous, that is the ony way to not have it really fog you out and become dopamax!

Mommyofthree, I have heard so much of lyrica making folks gain weight and drugs that make us gain weight are so demoralizing. I gained over fifteen pounds when I was first DX because of drugs and because of a history of eating disorder and body image problems I suffered emotionally in a terrible way. I met with my neuro and we reviewed all my meds and changed each one to include only ones that dont have weight gain as a side effect. The exception was celexa..but it was offset by others, still a bit of a battle.

Recently I changed from celexa to cymbalta, mostly for pain reasons and I read it can cause weight loss. I have been three months now and it is so much easier to watch my diet, and actually drop a few pounds.

What I'm saying is that I'm wondering if it's lyrica that's causing weight problems.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, I will post this as a separate topic as I think it's important to share.

Back to topomax, all of our drugs have serious side effects, some worse than others, topomax, I think has less side effects long term than some antidepressants if you read the studies, ie, weight gain.

Hope this helps.

[newbie but goodie]

I took Topamax years ago in conjunction with an antidepressant to counteract weight gain. I cant recall any bad side effects.

I have been considering asking my neuro for Top as I have gained a few lbs since my Dx. Does it relieve pain and numbness like Neurontin does? If not, I wonder if you can taken them together? I my gabapentin so dont want to give it up.

[birdieee]

Works for me!

As some of the others have said, the weeks it takes to transition on to Topomax are trying. It has helped my neurological pain and I have gotten off of Gabapentin, Fentinal, and Vicodin. I am still on Keppra. The reason the pain doc suggested getting off of Gabapentin was he suspected it was no longer working. I had been on it since diagnosed in 2003 in increasing amounts. Once I started cutting down, I found out he was right.

There are two major side effects for me.

One is it DOES make me feel tired. So, to overcome that, I need to still go about my daily activities as I did prior to Topomax, whether I feel tired or not. I need more breaks, but still need to keep active.

Second is it DOES make me feel like I have a full tummy. That's great for a little while, as it is very easy to lose weight. But as a MS patient, I need to do everything I can to stay healthy, which includes a balanced diet. My JOB is to eat every meal, whether I feel hungry or not.

So far, so good. I started on it in September and hope to stay on it for the long term. Best wishes.

[lstrl]

I took Topamax for a while a few years ago, and the only thing I noticed when I took it was that I had to pee a little more often. I was also told by my neuro to drink more to prevent kidney stones though, so that could have been why. It was a good drug, but I quit taking it because I no longer had problems and it was so expensive at the time.

[meeshkap]

It was an awful drug for me. I could not get through my day - It's a drug you have to build up your dose - so the first week you only take a little, the next a little more, so on and so on.

I tried it twice and by the end of second week I could not remember easy things - for example my husbands cell phone - I call it all the time - couldn't remember it, my phone number - couldn't remember it. Had a hard time completing daily tasks.

The first time I took it I also lost my appetite and didn't each much - which also made me feel bad. The second time I tried I didn't have issues with eating...apparently that only works the first time you are exposed to the drug.
(yes they use topomax for weight loss too)

[Hlawman]

I also take topamax for migraines and I have never had any problems with it. However, my mother also tried it for her migraines and she could not tolerate it. She said it made her feel extremely weird and even have mild hallucinations. It's just one of those things that affects everyone differently. I guess I should include that it does help with my migraines but is completely ineffective for my nerve pain

[lusciousleaves]

I loved what topomax did for my headaches and as an extra bonus, it completely eliminated my cravings for nicotine. I quit cold turkey on that stuff in the third week.

The problem was, as the dose titrated up near the minimum daily for treatment, I lost my sense of taste and my hair started falling out like I'd had chemo treatments. I was told to stop the drug immediately (I was having a flare up at the time that got confused with a topomax reaction), and my hair continued to fall out for another 6 weeks. Over all, I lost 2/3 of my hair, which was fine with be because I finally had a normal amount of hair on my head.

But still . . . I fear that all of it would have fallen out if I'd have continued to take it. But I was also taking oral steroids at the time (2 months at 40mg), and the combination might have been the real problem.

Seeing as how the flareup they thought was not a topomax reaction, and those other symptoms continue to happen off and on with other flareups, I might ask to start a lower dose of this to manage the headaches.

Of all the migraine meds I've tried, nothing works as fast as, or as well as the topomax did.