I've been taking Topamax now for about 6 weeks, and my headaches ...

Hello,

I have been taking topamax about a year now. My migrane is completely gone and i only face a little side effect like; numb fingers and feet and a luck of memory and a little weight loss. The bad taste in your mouth will go away i used to drink a glas of milk. In conjunction with Topamax i m doing twice a week "Hatha yoga" which gives me an extra relaxation. It really works. Before i went on Topamax i took so many diffrent pills, like ibuprofen 600, Diclofinac 100 ( 3 x a day) and some other pills.

dont give up and think positive as well as i just can recommend . Hatha yoga.

i am now off topamax and... my headaches are gone. the only problem is i almost starved to death after being on only 50mg for 3 months. toward the end of the 3 mos i decided, with the apt help of my husband, that topamax had to be the culprit of all the meds i was on. i was losing 3# a week and went to a dietician to help me balance the small regimen of food i could tolerate. yes, the med cured my headaches, and i 1.would never recommend topamax to anyone who doesn't have a doc who knows the possible horrific side effects that can happen and is willing to tell you about these effects up front without you telling the doc first because you learned them on your own on the net or somewhere. my doc didn't even know it was the med that was the source of my problems when i showed up one day emaciated, and not able to think and function on a daily basis and losing weght as a phenomenal rare. i was being encouraged by my husband to eat more than just two bites of food at each meal. we tried many foods to find something i could eat other than the about 10 items i could tolerate. i finally decided to take my health in my own hands and cut my dose in half (i was on a low dose and knew i had to taper, but at 50mg i could only taper that once to 25mg and then none). after a week i took my self off completly. it took about a week and a half before i could start eating more and then more until a month later i was eating most everything and couldn't get enough springs greens and fresh fruits and other vegetables and good fish and chicken and pinto beans, etc. i am now doing much better as far as the eating and food but still having throat problems and hair loss and memory and other cognitive problems after a month and 3 weeks . i feel overlooked and like i fell between the cracks a little concerning my experience since i saw 3 different docs during my ordeal and none knew what was going on and why i couldn't eat and had severe bronchitis bouts, digestive problems that were not listed in the side effects, etc.,etc.
along with the usual side effects, i also had other effects starting with the COMMON SIDE EFFECTS: 1. problems with eyesight, (feeling of sand in my eyes continually with swollen lids and blurring-things that weren't listed) 2. can't focus thoughts 3. loss of memory 4.numbness (and tingling and prickles quite badly-not listed) 5.feeling weak 6.confused 7.low energy 8. feel like throwing up(periodic) 9. diarrhea(and constipation-always one or the other) INFREQUENT SIDE EFFECTS: 1. throat irritation (including a horrible feeling of sand in my throat and gravel deep in the lower throat and esophagus plus a need to clear but with pain when i did-not listed) 2.inflamation of the nose 3. bronchitis for about a month and a half (with horrific asthma and many trips to the doc without him knowing that it could be topamax caused 4. chills-i got cold so easily 5. loss of appetite that worsened every week until i couldn't eat very much at all(this wasn't just a loss of appetite-it was a feeling in my throat that i couldn't swallow because of the gravel and sand feeling-not listed) 6. weight loss, (which worsened until the near-starvation state i ended up in-not listed) 7. dry mouth(and for me my mouth tasted rotten or like puss or something-hard to describe, but i brushed my teeth about 6 times a day-not listed) 8.indigestion( i still have that) 9. incomplete or infrequent bowel movements 10. backache (not lower back as listed but between my shoulder blades, quite severe at times - i still have this and have found that if i force burps it lessens i am going to the gastroenterologist about this soon) 11. pain in arms or legs(both for me) 12. taste problems(this was horrible-every minute of every day i tasted only bad flavors no matter what i ate or even if i didn't eat) 13. numbness (fluctuated in different parts of my body)
RARE SIDE EFFECTS: 1. pain in the eye(mine were sharp, prickling and random) 2. itching(which was more frequent toward the time of near starvation, and was mostly my arms and neck and hands) 3. altered interest in sex 4. condition in which stomach acid is pushed into the esophagus(i still am having a lot of problems with this one and will go to my gastroenterologist soon once again) 5. hair loss(this one was and is extreme, to the extent that i am now in fear of being bald soon) 6. head pain ( this pain got to the point of tenderness in which i hurt if i touched my head. i went to an ama massage therapist about the time i stopped topamax to get relief from many of these pains and conditions, and she could not touch my head but lightly for the first few visits. she did a lot of gentle cranial work before i got to the point of feeling like my head wasn't made of egg shell) 7. yeast infection of vagina and vulva (i started yeast stuff back in december 2007, just after starting topamax on dec 6, 2007. the last treatment for an infection was jan 10 or so ) the website i used to look at and confirm my side effects was webMD. www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-14494-Topamax.aspx?drugid i'll confirm this site for you, but just in case this address doesn't work the top heading is:
Drugs and Treatments - Topamax Oral - Side Effects from WebMD.
so, you can see that i have had a harrowing experience. i'm glad my headaches are gone and i am appalled that no doctor that i asked or told about my side effects knew that it could even be connected to topamax at all. i am interested (very much) in knowing if anyone else has had anything close to my experience and whether or not you would be interested in helping to make the pharmacuetical company stand up and take notice of this circumstance(no matter how few of us there may happen to be) enough to label and make sure that doctors are aware and educated to the point that if a patient starts to show my extreme symptoms of the effects, the doctor can know enough to stop and look carefully, to stop medication altogether or do whatever it takes to prevent my experience from happening to anyone else. the company is Ortho-McNEIL Neurologics, Inc. Titusville, N.J. 08560 let me know what you think. my intention is just to inform concisely and accuately to you so you can have more info. i doubt that for you the experience could be as bad, and from what i know the effects you mentioned are bearable to get to your health goal. thanks. sally7kids@yahoo.com

I have been taking Topamax since Feb. and wanted to get off it, which is why I was looking at this site. I too have that feeling of wanting to wash my hands all the time! I never connected it to the Topamax, but since you said that, I figured I would tell you that I have experienced it as well. I have also experienced many other side effects and I think my headaches are worse, which is why I want to stop taking it. I want to stop as quickly as possible, but I was worried about side effects.