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I was on Topamax for 10 days with a few minor side effects but no...

Posted at 1: 9 PM on Jan 27, 2008 by fibro_fog, #26668
I was on Topamax for 10 days with a few minor side effects but nothing serious enough to quit it. My husband and I went to the library about 6pm. I am 46 and never wore corrective lenses but was noticing that the shelves farther away were blurry, I didn't worry too much since I had been having ongoing thyroid problems and figured my eyes were swelling (though that normally happened only in the mornings). By the time we got home and were sitting down to dinner I noticed that when standing in the kitchen the people in the other room were completely blurry. By 11 pm I could only see clearly within 18 inches of my face. I awoke at 2 am with a severe headache and almost complete blurriness, I had to hold the pill bottle very close to my eye to be sure it was correct and even then could not be sure. My husband gave me the meds and I went back to sleep. I didn't wake up until 1pm!!! When I awoke all light was painfully bright and I could see NOTHING clearly! I was rushed to the hospital and was diagnosed with acute angle-closure glaucoma caused by TOPAMAX!!! Thankfully the docs were able to reverse the symptoms but said one more day I would have been permanently blind. My eyesight has never returned fully, though I can function just fine and do not feel depressed about it. Please, be very careful on Topamax. The stuff is dangerous to many people though a life-saver for so many others. Also, may I suggest to those with the tingling that you get your calcium levels checked as this is a classic symptom of low calcium. I just wonder how Topamax affects the other body systems, such as the adrenal and parathyroids.
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Reply 11 months ago on Dec 17, 2008 by gerigirl422, #15337

I was put on Topamax in August of 2007 for migraines. It was like a miracle for the migraines - they completely subsided. My hands felt numb and they started trembling all the time. My vision started getting blurry. Soda tasted so funny, that I stopped drinking Diet Coke altogether. I couldn't remember words when I spoke with people - I felt like an idiot! I am a slender person and I started losing weight. I got down to 108 lbs. My husband started really getting worried about me. I weaned myself off this poison. Then I REALLY fell apart. My hair started falling out in handfuls. My hands shook like I had Parkinson's disease. I went into my doctor and told him how I felt. He actually asked me if someone could be poisoning me!! I couldn't believe it. I told him that was ridiculous. He said that all my symptoms sounded like heavy metal poisoning. I started to cry and pleaded with him to find out what was wrong with me. He did a host of tests on my blood. He called me back into the office a day later, saying that he had to repeat a test, because it had to be a mistake. He repeated the test and told me that my TSH level in my thyroid was .002 (undetectable) and that I had to see an Endocronologist. She told me that I had Graves disease. She put me on Methimazole which my body could not tolerate. Then I asked her if I could just stay off medicine for a month, and see if my thyroid would improve. It did improve but I have to be monitored every three months for my condition. WHY HAVEN'T THEY TAKEN TOPAMAX OFF THE MARKET YET??? How many people need to be severely harmed before they take this POISON off the market???
~Geri

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