Term implications 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.

I have been on Warfarin since Sept 2004 when I had multiple blood clots in both lungs. Since then I have had two more PE's (one with a therapeutic INR) and a blood clot in my left arm (INR was also therapeutic). Genetic tests show nothing.

Since starting Warfarin I have had
- dizziness issues,
- eternal extreme fatigue
- hair loss
- short term memory and cognitive issues,
- joint pain and
- head aches all the time. I think the headaches are the worse since I can't take any NSAID's for them.

I have lost weight and push myself to exercise because it is supposed to make you feel better, right? Well not yet. I keep waiting.

I have not been able to return to work and worry about the long term implications of this.

Many times I have wondered about my sanity and if I was imagining all of this, so finding this forum at least lets me know that there is a possibility that it is not all in my mind.

I have been seeing a psychiatrist to help me work through the almost dying 3 times thing, but it is hard to accept since no one knows why I throw the clots. My INR is not stable in spite of close monitoring of Vit K and other drugs, and my INR must be taken twice a week.

I was a very healthy 59 yr old, who, as a result of a leg and ankle fracture and slight decrease in dine density, was placed on Fosamax Plus. I have been taking it for two and a half months and have certainly noticed many of the symptoms mentioned. I continue to experience extreme muscle stiffness- not unlike symptoms of the flu, dizziness, stomach nausea, bloating, loss of sleep (so much so that I was then prescribed sleeping pills!), bruising that won't fade, knee soreness, lower back and hip pain!
I tolerated all the symptoms because I thought many of them were associated with my injury. After the ABC 7.30 Report, I am very concerned and would like to know the long term implications. Thankfully I have only been taking Fosamax a short time but it is now in my system.
The pharmaceutical company has a lot to answer for.