Trouble concentrating symptoms and conditions

I've been on Topamax for over a year for hormonal migraines, and it's working great for the headaches. I started out at 25mg twice a day and now I'm up to 100mg twice a day. I've lost 40lb (mostly due to the drug -- but my appetite is starting to come back) and have just recently started experiencing the anxiety and tingling in the extremities. I've always felt I've had trouble concentrating and "finding the word", but I attributed it to lack of sleep because I have two small children. My most recent side effect, however, is most worrisome, which is the reason for my visit to this website. I am experiencing severe abdominal pain, almost constant, and it seems to be increasing. I had abdominal pain and diarrhea when I first started Topamax last year, but it stopped after the first month or so. I'm just wondering if maybe long term use can cause ulcers or other stomach problems. Anyone have any experience with this? I know from experience that Topamax dosages have to gradually weaned up and down, so I'm considering decreasing my dosage to see if my stomach problems will stop. I'm just in so much pain, yet my migraines have almost stopped now with 200mg a day, that I'm reluctant to change my dose.

I'm a 54 year old female. I was given Doxycycline to help treat what may be Interstitial Cystitis - bladder inflamation of unknown origin. Within 20 minutes of taking, I felt like it crossed the blood-brain barrier. I would get a weird dizzy/nausea sensation. I only took it for 10 days and I was so glad to be done as I hated how I felt while on it. What I'm worried about now and this is why I wound up on this site, is that it feels like it is still in my system a week after finishing it. After every meal, my stomach hurts. I've been having headaches --which I don't typically have. I'm having trouble concentrating and focusing on work that I have to do and feeling suddenly sleepy for no good reason. I struggled for years with depression, but have felt relatively good for the last 10 years--I never took any depression meds. Since taking this drug, I have sensations of sadness and hopelessness like I haven't felt in years. I'm worried about the time it's taking for this drug to leave my system and whether it's done some kind of permanent damage.

i'm 15 and have been on the medication for a couple of weeks. i feel like my vision is blurred. other symptoms i have are bleeding in the nose, dry cough,trouble concentrating, my leg won't quit moving, and i can't eat. looking at food just wants to make me hurl because when i do eat, i get a terrible stomach ache or sometimes i just tasting the food makes me sick. my head always hurts and my legs are weak just after walking up stairs. that's not normal for me. also, i'm always thirsty and i have trouble remembering things, which i didn't before.

I used to take Lamictal 150mg at night, no problems, but started feeling anxious in the afternoon/evening. My Dr. Rx'd 300mg lithium at night to see if it would help the anxiety, but I had very fitfil, unrestful sleep to the point where I was not sleeping much and very tired all day. So, the Dr. took me off lithium and substituted Tripletal 300mg in the evening. That worked, but I was still a little depressed & she increased my Lamictal to 200 mg at night. I started waking up after about 4 hours with horrible nightmares. I thought the nightmares were from Trileptal because that was a new med, but even after I discontinued it, I still get the nightmares/panic feeling that wakes me at night. I took 2mg Lunesta for a while to help me sleep, but then I slept too much 10-12 hrs. I take the Lamictal now in the morning & don't get those nightmares & I sleep fine now, but I feel anxious & dizzy and have trouble concentrating, again about 2-4 hours after I take it in the morning. Dr. says I can take ativan to help the anxiety, but I feel like I need to get off Lamictal and try something else. Maybe lithium will help if try to take it now witout the Lamictal.

I am on 300mg for bipolar. I am having trouble concentrating, remembering (i forget what i'm doing while i am doing it!), I often worry about driving-just don't feel like i can focus well enough-riding down the road thinking "hope i know what i'm doing". It is like i daydream constantly with periods of not daydreaming. I feel pretty cheerful and not having any real emotional problems, but the physical problems are a mess. I am so tired that i feel like every single day is a "well i'm sick today, i'll give myself a break, maybe i'll feel better tomorrow". i do have better days sometimes, but for the most part, i feel kind of useless-not "useless" like i'm depressed-i mean "useless" like i get nothing done and it takes me two hours to get some lunch for myself and my three-yr-old child, and i mostly sit around because i'm "taking a break" and my legs are so sore or i have a headache or i feel shaky, or nauseated - each day, i feel so sleepy i am desperate for my husband to get home to care for my daughter (and me)-it feels like i took NyQuil or Benadryl or something! So, i am literally pretty useless. It's such a shame. I can't find a medicine to help me cope, it is always a trade-off...and going on and off them to try another is a nightmare. At least, right now, it is just a daydream...

I posted yesterday a response to a message from another woman. I have stopped birth control before and it caused me to begin my menstrual cycle early. I had been thinking about not taking YAZ anymore as I was convinced it was making me feel crazy and not myself. I felt out of control hormonally and that my brain and emotions were not connected. I was very moody and would be come depressed and anxious for no reason. I also felt like another person both physically as well as emotionally... I was exhausted all the time and felt like I lost my self confidence. I felt I was missing out on my life. I stopped taking the pill last night. I will let you know what the side effects I have experienced are. I am calling my DR. this morning to check to make sure I am not putting myself at risk by stopping the pill. I think I am doing the right thing for me. I think it would be best to call your Dr. and ask.
Also item to note: YAZ is used to treat the symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), such as anxiety, depression, irritability, trouble concentrating, lack of energy, sleep or appetite changes, and feeling out of control. PMDD can also cause physical symptoms such as breast tenderness, joint or muscle pain, headache, and bloating or weight gain.
I feel like this describes my symptoms to a tee.

Four years ago I weighed 105 lbs.; was happy, vigorous, energetic, positive, adventurous (skiied, sang, gardened, backpacked, roller-bladed, ballroom danced. Dr. prescribed Toprol for moderate/high BP (140/90). Now: 155 lbs., majorly depressed--don't care if I live or die--terrible fatigue, everything HURTS--bones, muscles, joints, irritable, never sleep more than 1 hr. any time. Sometimes think I'm going insane...fade in and out of awareness and don't even care...even having trouble concentrating to write this--like adult A.D.D. Bad case of tinnitus (high-pitched electrical noise inside my head; at one point, thought I was picking up Morse Code from somewhere! No kidding. I KNOW I'm not nuts, but wondering what's happened to me. Female, age 60; IQ 160+ and NOT a goofball, but feel like I've died and been reborn as a monster. I suspect the Toprol, since I'm not taking anything else. Is there an acceptable substitute without these ghastly side effects?

Dizziness,nausea,vertigo,tiredness,weakness,muscle aches and a dr. that keeps telling me it must be a coincidence ann that i probably have the flu,even though i've been on lamictal for 6 weeks and have just raised my level to 50 mgs. a day .wanted to go on lamictal because dr. assured me it would not have the cognitive side effects depakote has.she definitely has not been truthful since i've been reading alot of postings by others who have alreadytaken lamictal and they're having alot of difficulty withfinding theright word when speaking,trouble concentrating and reading and just plain old fogetfulness and associated confusion.and she wants me to happily subject myself to this!help-i'm scared to death!

this pertains to my post below, i forgot to mention that i am taking the generic paxil at 20mg a day in the morning. i am a 22 year old female. a few other side effects i forgot to add are:
- decreased sex drive (but not much!)
- a little scatterbrained at times, mild confusion
- some moodiness
- trouble concentrating and paying attention (ADD seems to be worse) but still managable and able to pass college courses and maintain a full time job at a receptionist.

some advice that i learned as i endured the extremely difficult days before taking the medication:
keep focused on a certain goal, mine was keeping my new job and never missing a day no matter how out of my mind i felt. it was hard to put on an act everyday and keep the tears inside but you have to do it and this kept me strong. afterawhile, i started to feel the best at work becuz my mind was occupied and i was learning something new everyday. coworkers were encouraging me and complimenting my hard work. keeping on top of this goal kept me afloat at my darkest hours. you can really help yourself if you truly try. it may all just be mind over matter....

Thank you all for all your posts. They help me feel like I am not alone in all this junk. I have been on Prednisone since mid July when I was diagnosed with Dermatomyositis. Even with all the side effects, primarily the weight gain and bloating, I feel better than I did in June. I could hardly walk. My sleeping is actually better now than it was with the pain of DM, and I have always been hypoglycemic so the elevation in blood sugar has helped me.

With that said, I have always been an extremely healthy and active person so the weight gain is killing me. I also prefer to be holistic. My biggest fear has always been long term medication, but here I am. My pred. level was just increased 2 weeks ago to 60mg / day. Within one week my face has become very round, and I look 4 months pregnant. I am very hopeful that someone will find that miracle diet/exercise regime to help balance this side effect. I work out at least 6 days per week. I eat healthy, but have recently gone back to a yeast & sugar free diet. All this with no success. I just started taking Methotrexate 2 weeks ago so I hope maybe it will give me the success Liz has seen in that area.

Other side effects: I am very happy to have my energy level back, but my strength isn't back so I get very frustrated and irritable. I have issues with blurred vision. And I have trouble concentrating. My thoughts often wonder while I am in conversation.

I hold you all in my prayers and hope that you will find ease as you go through this challenge. If we can all stay positive we'll get through it.

Best Wishes,
Elizabeth

My son started taking depokote at the age of 11. We kept him on it for about 3 months and decided to take him off of it because he absolutely did not like how he felt on it. Tired all the time and just not himself. The seizures continued and I felt like I had to do something so we took him back to Childrens Mercy in Kansas City, Mo and the dr. put him back on it reassuring me it wasn't the medicine that was making him feel this way. He has been on the extended release med since June of 2005 and he is in his first year of high school and he is failing all but 2 classes. He and I both told the dr that he is having trouble concentrating but the dr chose to ignore my remarks. Now the first semester of his first year in high school is over and I don't think he has passed most of his classes because of this drug. I have since then contacted the hosp and I am changing dr's and we are getting him off the drug. No they tell me that you can not go off of depokote cold turkey. It is going to take 6 wks to take my son off of it and change to something else.

I began taking Zoloft in March of 2003 as a treatment for fibromyaligia. I want to go off! I have trouble concentrating, foggy head, and I have become very forgetfull. I am 47. Is it the Zoloft or menopause?

had trouble concentrating, forgetful, and felt like I was in la la land