Topmax symptoms and conditions

My psychiatrist started me on Topamax 2 yrs ago for depression from being 75 lbs overweight. Started at 25 mg/day up to 50/day for 2 yrs. Lost 70 lbs and kept off with only minor side effects. Also took 150/day Wellbutrin during this time. (For being kind of a neat freak and washing my hands a lot.- didn't affect my social or work life much) Have slowly started gaining the weight back (+12 lbs). Seem to have built up an immune to the 50/day dosage over the 2 yrs. So he added 25 in the am in addition to the 50 I've been taking in the evening. (1 mo. ago) Having some strange reactions. My memory seems to be taking a real hit. I am a CPA (passed these exams 15 yrs ago) and now I'm studying for the Cert.'d Internal Auditor exams. I am having a great deal of trouble trying to memorize for these 12 hour long tests! I feel fatigued every day. My blurred vision (that requires reading glasses) has gone crazy. I can't read the song book at church at all. And I'm only 47!. I've had acne like bumps all around my nose and face. How could such a slight increase cause so much change? Also sometimes my heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest. And I'm losing patience w/my 13 yr old son who's pushing my buttons to see how much he can get away with. He seems to sense that I'm not at my best. But if I go off this Topamax and gain back my 70 plds I know I will plunge into a DEEP depression. Has any one talked to their doctor about the possibility of these side effects going away after time? My tingling hands and feet did and my slight hair loss did. And my weight loss is trying to go away but I don't want that. I'm majorly concerned about the memory loss and blurred vision eventually going away. DALIAL

I have been taking Topamax for approx. 8 months now - 50mg in the morning and 50mg in the evening. Was found to have a Cevernous Haemangeoma
on the front left temporal lobe which caused me to have Epileptic symptoms however never has full fits - just stroke like syptoms.

I have tried Epilim and all the other drugs. After taking Topmax i felt good for some time then the weight loss kicked in, some hair loss, pains in the right knee, tingling in the hands and under the feet. I could live with these however
i have been really battling of late with my urinary system. It is always as if i have a bladder infection, pain in the lower abdomen etc. Done scans etc. to check for stones - zero. Have decided to wean off Topamax and see if these
effects go away. The drug did wonders for my brain problem but the side effects have just gotten too much.

Ive been on topmax 100mg for a year now.. its really helping me... lost almost 80 pds. now.. not all topmax.. yes its a BIGGG help.. but not drinking soda helped too!!

Well started taking Topmax Oct 10. I have lost 25lbs. but I have been really depressed and sucidal. I'm going back to my doctor sometime in Nov. I don't really want to be taken off of it because of the weight loss. An Advice besides go off of it?

I took topmax prescribed by my Veteran's Administration physician for Migraines. Stepped from 25 mg to 100 mg over 3 weeks. I also take effexor. I already have aphasia and the side effects increased those symptoms and it seems from reading here every other one but eye problems. At the strong suggestion of my "back" surgeon, I have quarterly caudal blocks, I stopped immediately. Anyone who must use the VA for medical care knows getting in touch with ones primary physician is problematic at best and nearly impossible often. The worst is I suspect I was let go at work due to the side effects. I am an accountant currently studying for the CPA exam and could not work well and accurately with the side effects. The only reason I tried this med was to prevent waking up in the middle of the night throwing up with a migraine and losing time at work due to migraines.

From now on I will simply use the injectors of imatrex that may be a major pain, literally and leave me losing a day when I must use it from knocking me out. It seems that I always get every bloody side effect from every med I take. Botton line is, I will never take this medication again.

i began taking topax in oct 2004 due to migraines and seizes and have a serioues famliy history of brain aneurysm. I started taking smail dose 25mg at night working my way to 200mg a day. My head acheah where a little bitter and the seizes werent as strong and i could felt the medication working to control them . i have always suffered from depression and the medication control my mood i was at first happy. i work at a very stressful place and as my job became overly stressful during our yearly audit time i couldnt cope and i missed my does of medication i began to get all of side effects. weight gain : ( when at first i was losing a bit) mood swings, confusion, i couldnt put my words together right and my thought pattner was off. but, and during that time i wasnt sleeping and one of the things i enjoyed about topmax was the that i could finally sleep at night. i would call my doctor and he would add other things to my medication regain such as vim c for the tingels , iron, and for the headaches i was getting very strong pain medication which i wouldnt take. i was becoming very depressed and had to stop the medication so i did for a about 3 months but i realized that i do need it and now am back on it and try not to miss my doeses which cause my problems, but im facing the mood swings right now but all medication have side effect you just have to make a personal choice what your gonna choose for ou what most important. for me in 34 single mom of a 12 and a set of 5 year twins and ill all they have and so i have to ensure that im at healthly as i can be because they need me.so good luck

I am a 36 year woman who has suffered from depression and migrianes. In the past couple of years, my depression has been much imporoved by stopping the use of alcolhol (duh) and finding a spriritual way of living. I have been managing it with Wellbutrin 300 mg a day, and have felt pretty well. My migraines, however, have been ever present and have continued to be a problem 2-3 times a week. My docotor suggested Topmax as a solution, and frankly, all heard was it could help with my migraines and one of the biggest side effects was weight loss. Yippee! Fewer headached and weight loss? Practically a miracle!

I am usually very careful about researching any new drug I take before I even fill the prescription. I have to admit I did not do this with Topmax. I sincerely wish I had.

The first thing I noticed was the lethargy. It was all I could do to crawl out of bed, go to work, and then come home only to crawl back again. I also got very angry and depressed right away. After 7 days, I went to speak to my pharmacist in tears on my lunch hour from work to ask her if this could be from the medication. I had just spent the morning in a rage over nothing, unable to think clearly and I just felt really out of control and in a fog. She said most of the side effects should pass in 2 weeks, and to give it about ten more days to seeif things improved.

I took Topomax 100 mg for nearly a month, and decided after that I would rather have migraines than suffer from all of the side effects I was experiencing. My side effects included severe depresssion, anger, confusion, problems with memory and concentration even my speech.I was lethargic, had aching joints and muscles, and generally I was exausted all of the time no matter how much I had slept. I had no energy to do anything. I was confused, had problems muli-taskng at work, and became suicidally depressed. Something that has not been a problem in years.

I have ceased taking the medication all together after consulting my doctor, and am feeling a little better after just a few days. I hope to be back to myself soon. It has been a horrible experience, and I will never take another drug again without fully researching it's side effects.

I have been on Topamax since January 2005. Currently on 200mg per day, being moved up to 400 soon. I do experience the numbness of face, which in the beginning I would take an odd childish delight in, pushing and pulling on my face (tending to be somewhat high at those times) and telling people "feel this, it's so cool" because it feels to me at those times like my face is made of silly putty. The high part is mostly gone now, and I behave like a rational adult (mostly). I still have more fun that I used to, but that is a good thing. I was one of those people who took life way to seriously before.

I was prescribed Topamax for several reasons, none of them typical. I suffer severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and have been taking Celexa and Wellbutrin to treat it. Over the course of two months I gained 20 pounds on these meds. In addition, I suffer chronic fatigue and fairly severe mood swings (though nothing like what I had had prior to the medication). In light of all of those circumstances, and Topmax's reputation for causing weight loss, raising energy levels, and behaving as a mood stabilizer, I was prescribed this medication essentially for its side effects. I found out afterwards that it is benificial for chronic pain and migraines. I have had only one migraine since I began taking Topamax, and my lower back and neck problems (due do a broken coccyx and whiplash from two separate accidents) are vastly improved as well.

My craving for sweets is significantly decreased, as is my appetite, though both return with a vengeance when I get royally outraged, as I learned two weeks ago. I, also, no longer care for cola, but I don't understand why everyone complains about that, considering how it leaches the calcium out of our bones and puts us all at such great risk for Osteoporosis. I have lost 11 pounds to date. I'm sure it would be more if I would work out more or eat more than 1000 Calories per day, because I know eating so little slows my metabolism. I do suffer from dry mouth. I haven't noticed and of the blurred vision or memory loss, but despite the fact that I am very intelligent, I have always been a very myopic ditz so I wouldn't anyhow. My blood pressure, which was always low before, causing head rushes and dizziness, has stabilized at 120/60, so for the first time in my life it's normal and I no longer have to worry about falling over or having my vision black out if I stand up too suddenly. For me, I love the things this drug has done, and I am sorry to see that it is not a miracle drug for everyone else too.