Atypical trigeminal neuralgia symptoms and conditions

I have been taking Topamax for atypical trigeminal neuralgia for about five weeks - starting at 25mg and working my way up to 100mg each night. The first three or four days I was a bit headache, nothing unbearable but just kind of uncomfortable.

Right from the beginning I had this great side effect that I haven't read anyone else here mention - this feeling of clarity in my head, as though I've always had noisy background static that was now suddenly switched off. I just love it! I was not even aware of this noisy static that had apparently been going on in my head all my life until it had been switched off! And now I feel this wonderful sense of peace and calm. So I have no idea what that is all about, but I'm not complaining. I do remember once reading about generalized anxiety disorder and wondering if I perhaps suffered from a mild case of that (not a very severe case of it), if that is the case, that could perhaps explain the static-y background noise in my head - that is now thankfully gone after taking Topamax. So, I can happily say that I have a pleasant side effect from this drug (sounds like I'm one of the few from reading this forum!)

I'm not sure if it's a related side effect, but I feel more calm and more peaceful. Like it takes a lot to upset me. It's kind of funny, I'm watching my husband get all cranky and fired up about something and I'm just watching him and waiting for him to calm down, whereas once before I would have got hooked and gotten all cranky and fired up myself. Now I just don't get it and I'm thinking to myself "why's he getting so upset about this?" And he's looking at me all quizzically like "why aren't you getting all upset about this?" But it all just kind of slides right off... Interesting because some of the other posters are saying quite the opposite about feeling aggressive on Topamax...

Another really good side effect for me is being able to sleep really well at night, something I've never been able to do (I've always been a really erratic/light sleeper), I don't remember ever sleeping this soundly. I swear I now sleep with a big smile on my face : ) I'm just so happy to be sleeping soundly! And I actually think I might now be less sleepy during the day than before (so unlike other posters) which is likely to be because I'm sleeping better at night. Although if I'm having a lazy day at home, it is very easy to have a big daytime nap (but that’s not really that new for me!), and I definitely get very tired at bedtime, but otherwise my energy levels are quite okay, probably more than before Topamax, rather than less.

I'm still not sure yet if the frequency of my atypical trigeminal neuralgia is less as I usually only get it about once every ten - fourteen days. I think it has been less frequent but I will need to be on it a little bit longer to know if it's working for sure.

I had a scary experience one day after I'd been taking it for about a week or two where it felt like a water balloon had been popped in the back of my head and the water was running down the back of my head and neck. It was the creepiest experience and one that I didn't immediately attribute to the Topamax but after reading some of these posts made me think that maybe it was?

The tingling in my feet has been pretty bad, not just your regular pins and needles but really very uncomfortable/almost painful. Yesterday was the first day I didn't have it, I'm not sure if it was because I've been drinking more milk (I read that calcium could help) or taking potassium supplements. I'm also being mindful not to cross my legs or sit on my feet as I usually do. I've also been very constipated so I'm making sure I'm eating a lot of All Bran every day.

My biggest concern has been the cognitive side effects because I'm due to start my doctoral degree in a few months and need to be extra sharp. I have definitely not been feeling sharp! Again, yesterday was probably about the first day I started to feel a bit better with that side effect too. I've been taking folic acid supplements but I also took the advice of one of the other people who posted here who suggested taking the Topamax with food, so I take it with my dinner and maybe that's what's helping? I'm not sure, but I don't feel quite so dumb! One of the things I felt most ditzy with was time perception, I don't know whether other people experienced this also? Whether it was being aware of the day or the month I just couldn't work it out...

I'm also less hungry - loving that. Weight loss is very slow though (but all weight loss is good), maybe 2kg (4.5lb) in 5 weeks. I was on holiday for 3 of those weeks in my favorite food eating destination surrounded by all my favorite foods and I was pretty much uninterested - now that's a first. Normally I come back from this trip with an extra 5kg! If I wanted to I could still eat, but it definitely makes it easier to abstain, so I know I won’t have to worry about getting dangerously thin as some other posters have written about.

My side effects have definitely changed over time, I'll get something for a few days and then it will go. So I'm hoping that I'll continue to get the good ones and that the bad ones will go. Overall, I'm very satisfied so far with Topamax and seem to be tolerating it quite well, so fingers crossed that it continues to go well. Perhaps different people simply tolerate different medications differently. But from all the reading I've done on Topamax, here's a few tips I've picked up which seem to be helping me: I take it only at night (to help combat daytime tiredness), I supplement with a multivitamin, folic acid, potassium and make sure I'm getting enough calcium, I take my Topamax with dinner, I drink a lot of water, plus I don't take any other meds. I hope these may help some other people reading this and I wish you all the best of luck with your migraines/trigeminal neuralgia/epilepsy or whatever other nasty ailment has you taking Topamax. I’d also love to receive your replies to hear if any of you have experienced any of the same side effects as me.