Symptomology symptoms and conditions

I'm 38 years old and I started Topamax in July of 2008 for severe migraines. I've had an average of 12-15 migraines per month since my early 20's and nothing was working. While initially adjusting to Topamax I had the tingling in my hands and feet during the first month but then it went away. My neurologist increased the dose very slowly from 50mg to 100mg to 150 mg. The migraines have decreased in response to each dose increase. At 100 mg the migraines reduced to 10 per month and at 150mg they reduced to 6 per month. My dose is now being raised to 200 mg which the Dr. says is the maximum recommended for treating migraines. The worst side effects I've experienced are extremely dry mouth (from 150 mg+) and slight hair loss. My starting weight was 138 and I lost 11 pounds very gradually before my weight stabilized at 127. I haven't noticed any problems with food or drinks tasting different. For some reason, I always have insomnia for the first week after a dose increase but then it goes away. I've only had mild concentration problems but nothing notable or problematic. So far, the medication has been remarkable and I can't believe what it's like to live life without so much migraine pain! I hope other people can have the same benefits from this medication.

I would strongly recommend anyone with hypothyroidism or on thyroid medication read a book called The Thyroid Solution. I believe the author was Dr. Arem. He seems to be an open-minded physician fully aware of the catastrophic effect low thyroid hormone and also quite aware of the inadequate care most patients are receiving.

There are so many misconceptions about thyroid health-- and many general practitioners do not have nearly enough information to be helping patients. He fully covers the problem of relying on your doctor to provide the adequate dosage. As well, many people with so-called 'normal' TSH levels still show symptoms of hypothyroidism. In fact, the 'normal' range was simply found by measuring the TSH of a cross-section of people to determine what level makes most people feel healthy. The problem with this is that some people may naturally have an extremely low TSH, but if it raises to a 4 (which is considered fine) that person may feel quite ill. There body knows something has changed but to a doctor who only looks at blood tests, they can't see why there is a problem.
In the past doctors used symptomology to determine the health of a patient, not ridiculous blood tests!
Best of all, Dr. Arem confirms that your symptoms are NOT IN YOUR HEAD like doctors try to convince you.

This is also a great book for people dealing with family members who are hypothyroid to understand what their loved one is dealing with emotionally.