Staring into space symptoms and conditions

I've been taking 150mg of topamax a day for the last 10 months for trigeminal neuralgia. I haven't found any improvement in terms of appetite or memory in this time. Side-effects haven't lessened at all. Tingling in feet and hands, emotional instability including anger and grief, cognitive impairment in terms of slowed though-processes, spelling problems, and general intellectual functioning haven't improved with time. It seems as though I'm still walking in a haze all day long. I can pass ridiculous amounts of time by just staring into space and thinking about nothing. It scares me sometimes but it's taken away a lot of the pain and has allowed me some sort of normality. I'm 28, I want to live and work and build something for myself. So, for now, it's a trade-off .... side-effects vs life with pain or jumping off a balcony with my hands in my pockets some night when I can't take it anymore. It all comes down to the degree of debilitation that your particular disorder imposes and your ability to deal with it. I couldn't physically handle the pain or isolation anymore so I opted for the side-effects. I just wonder what the long-term implications of Topamax will turn out to be in five or 10 or 20 years from now.

The doctor was observing me for very low globulin G levels and had me on 500 mg Keflex for a month trying to make my body "respond"? I took a bad sinus infection, went to my ENT, and he took me off the Keflex and put me on Cipro (500 mg) twice a day. I had taken this almost two weeks when my ongoing appt. with the first doctor came due. I called her office and they said I must come on in to get my lab work done. I did and she saw how sick I really was. She took me off Cipro and put me on Levaquin which I had never taken. During the first three days, I got sicker and sicker.
I thought it was just the "sickness" getting worse. One day I sat staring into space for over an hour without realizing what I was doing. Also, that day I noticed large knots in various places (under the skin). I live alone and became increasingly concerned. May I say, during that space in time,
I lost 25 lbs almost immediately. Nassau, sinus worse, felt terrible, and
hurt like the dickens. I could not sleep (and still have problems with it) and thought it all me, having never read anything about side effects. That night at 2a.m. I found the sheets that came with it, read, and identified with
everything written on the paper. I had to take one hand and put it under the opposite arm at the shoulder to help move it from my side. The muscles in the upper arms were like - separated. I found large knots under
my arms as on my body in various places. I could not raise my arms away from my sides. At 8 am I phoned the doc's office. They said, oh! it couldn't be that bad. I faxed the underlined, highlighted sheet to them and fifteen minutes later they called. The doctor said not to take any more
and it should be out of my body in 48 hours, if not see my primary phys.
She knew my GP had retired to help with her son, and had talked to me about taking her place until I got someone. A lot of it was out of my body in approx. 48 hours but my right arm (upper) and upper right leg was a mess. It is some better after April - Oct. taking medicine, therapy, and exercise but I still limp, especially when I get tired. There had been no strength for a long time. It was like the muscles separated and tendons enlarged, strutted, are very painful. The challenges are great up and down steps, etc. Can't lay on that side at night, put pillows under and between legs and when the doctor examining did a "frog-leg" with the right one, it didn't want to hold me up for several days. When I walk it gets to hurting very badly. Can't cross my legs when I sit. Wiggle and turn when sitting.
The very bad thing is this: The doctor never tried to help me get over this. When I went to other doctors for help, most of them looked the other way completely. For example, I tried to tell my new primary about the problems and pain from the muscles and tendons - he suggested lab work and a colonostomy. A rheumatologist kept saying I had "hip" pain. He did sent me for therapy though with a diagnosis of tendinitis in the upper arm.
He never addressed the case and cause. I would like to know if this is something to last the rest of my life. What can be done? You can only have therapy so long. An assistant told me to look this up on the internet.
I did not know this existed but I'm glad to know it has not all been my
imagination or "in my mind". My symptoms: dropped 25# in about three weeks, nausea, depression, sleepless, severe pain, taunt stretched tendons, droopy separated muscles,dizzy, and more. If anyone has any answers of who to contact and what to expect, please tell me. I've had anyone I talked with or saw to make note to never give this to me again.
God bless all experiencing these bad side-effects and make us well
again. --By ******

Just discontinued usage of Celexa for anti-anxiety treatment. Dr. is putting me on different meds due to the side effects I experienced. I was on 20mg, and it put my brain in a fog about 5 hours after taking it (not a good place to be for an engineer...). I mean I was just STONED for the next hour, staring into space! I tried to take 10mg, but it couldn't calm me down enough. Taking it at night didn't help either, still felt like I was on the ceiling the next day. Tried to take it every other day, but wound up really paranoid the days I didn't take it. It was like living in a Monty Python sketch where I felt like some giant foot was going to come stomp me into the ground at any minute.

I really need a med that will work quickly and effectively in the morning, and diminishes as the day goes on. Maybe I'll have better luck with something else, this one was too weak in the morning, too strong in the afternoon, withdrawal too terrifying. I didn't experience any other side effects.

My daughter has been on topomax for about a month. She went from 25mg to 50mg and was doing fine. When she upped it to 75mg everything went crazy. We have started coming down on it two days ago by dropping one of the 25mg pills at night. She has been staring into space, unable to concentrate, doesn't understand that she is acting wierd. Also, she started losing control of her bladder. She doesn't realize when she really has to go.

This isn't about "Neurontin", even though one of my Doctors put me on it back in April of this year. I just need to know if there's a website that may provide some answers. I find myself or I've been told that I stare out into space with my mouth a gape. I can hear people and I know that I'm staring into space but I can not answer or really move my head good. I always have headaches. Please, Is there an helpful website for me to go to????