Topamax and bipolar

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

Hi I've been on topamax for 4 years . Had all the side effects...weight loss,tingling in hands and feet,no memory and speech problems! I was taking 600mgs a day! I take it for epilepsy! I was on the highest dose. my doc then weened me from top. to zonegran 600mgs. It's very similar to topamax. For me it is not helping me as much as the topamax. I think it's a great drug!!!! I did not loose hair, no constipation, no rapid heartbeat for me! I am going back on it . Yes sometimes I would get in a hostel mood and can't spell shit , but for me it's all GOOD !

Hello All,
I"m a 50 year old Mother and Grandma who takes Topamax as a Mood Stabilizer for Bipolar Disorder. I took it about 5 years ago and about 6 months after I started taking it I was struck down with debilitating diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite, extreme weight loss ( 26 pounds in one month ). No one knew what was wrong with me. My psychiatrist actually upped my Topamax dose because I was becoming depressed and having severe mood swings. I was sick for 8 months. I saw a new psychiatrist and he stopped the Topamax because it just was too over medicating at that time and started a different mood stabilizer.

I didn't put 2 and 2 together. I just was happy that the diarrhea and nausea for the most part was gone. I still have nausea frequently but that is from a totally different cause.

In December we discussed that the new mood stabilizer was no longer working so we went back on the Topamax. In April the diarrhea and nausea this time accompanied by vomiting started. I was ready when it started tho even tho I didn't know the cause. I got hooked up with a GI doctor, started probiotics immediately, started eating organic yogurt with as many live active cultures in it as i could find. I would only eat plain boiled rice, boiled macaroni, toast, ripened organic bananas and drink lots of fluid. No gatorade but pedialyte because gatorade has citric acid in it which can be irritating. Pedialyte doesn't. I also drank decaf ice tea with small amounts of sugar.

Now today I read that Topamax can give you diarrhea and if you have a history of diarrhea tell your doctor. Great, just great. Trade my mental health for my physical health but having diarrhea at the most unopertune times does affect my mental health. What am I going to do?

I refuse to take a weight positive mood stabilizer and that is all I'm left with. Like Lithium, Depakote. they will make me as big as a cow. I'd rather have diarrhea to tell you the truth. I don't think I'm gonna tell him.

Missyk10atx

I began reading all of the blogs about Topamax and was surprised. I have been taking Topamax as a mood stabilizer since February 2007 at 200 mg at bed time (I probably sleep off the fatigue). The only side effect I am concerned about is the weight loss. Short term memory is not an issue. As a matter of fact, I am attend college and am managing a 3.85 gpa. I wish all of you the best of luck and hope you find something that works for you.

I am also experiencing hair loss and have been on Topamax about 2 months. I had no idea this was a side effect. I initially lost weight which was wonderful, but then my weight dipped so low my family and friends thought I was anorexic. I was finally wearing a size 3 pants. I normally am in size 8's. I am on it for bi-polar and to help with binge-eating. But I cannot deal with the hair loss. I don't think that being skinny is worth losing my hair for. No other meds have helped my depressive moods without making me gain weight and at this point I just don't want to take any drugs. I would rather try some therapy...that has become less common. The doctors just want to give you a pill now-a-days.

I have been on Topamax for a little over a year. I've had most of the side effects; tingling, numbness in the fingers, dry mouth, forgetfulness, and weight loss - love the weight loss. All the side effects have sort of slowed down as I've been on the medication longer. The weight loss has slowed and I've even began to get my appetite back- I'm afraid I'm going to start gaining weight now! I've lost about 40 pounds and I needed to lose it, so that was wonderful. I've had a very hard time losing weight all my life so this was wonderful.

I was addicted to Coca Cola and this med also helped me kick that habit because I lost my taste for the carbonation.

Does anyone know if the weight loss usually evens out after about a year or a year and a half? I need to lose about 30 more pounds and was hoping that I would continue losing weight!

Anyway, I was on the Topamax for headaches and it has completely helped that! It has truly been a God-send for me. Other than monthly hormone headaches, I don't get migraines hardly at all!

I am wondering about having my doc up my dosage for the weight loss aspect????

I am going to begin taking 25 mg of Topamax at bedtime tonight. After reading all of these posts I am a scared. I was prescribed Topamax for bipolar disorder. I am currently taking Lamictal as well. I always gain weight on psychotropic drugs and need to lose about 15 lbs (all of which I have gained over the course of being on Lamictal). Any who-my psychiatrist said that this medication may help counteract the weight gain I have experienced. Although I do not consider my self an overeater now. I do hope that it helps me to not like the taste of sodas though. I am addicted to Mt. Dew and caffeine, which I wouldn't mind stopping. Anyway, I am supposed to increase my dosage by 25mg per week until I reach 75mg per day. I am also supposed to go back and see my doctor before I increase the dosage beyond 75mg. I just hope I do not have the horrible side effects I have read here. Some of them I know I can deal with especially if they are temporary but the anxiety/depression/shortness of breath/lack of energy/morbid thoughts are the main ones that concern me. My psychiatrist said that with this medication I should drink plenty of water. He said that it could cause headaches and other side effects if I'm not sure to drink plenty of fluids with this medication. So, I am planning on hydrating myself really well today before taking it this evening. I'll post back and let you know how the side effects are going. Is anyone else on a combination of Lamictal and Topamax or on it for bipolar disorder? I'd like to hear more of your experiences.

I was put on Topamax around thanksgiving time 07 for Bipolar disorder. Over a week my dose was raised to 100mg/day. Immediately I began experiencing muscle cramps in my Legs that were intermittent. It wasn't too severe so I decided to give it time. Also, I was an inpatient at a Psych facility when I was put on Topamax and was also placed on a few other things at the same time. Recently, the pains in the legs have become severe and I have been getting pains in my arms as well. In addition to this I have been getting tingling in my face and hands and numbness in my throat. It has been difficult to breathe at time, especially if I really relax, then I suddenly realize that I am not breathing at times. My eyes feel like they are going to pop out of there sockets. I tried talking to my Psychiatrist and was told to go to the ER. At the ER I was told to goto my Psychiatrist. No one will listen to me!!! Finally yesterday I decided to take myself off of the Topamax. It's hard to tell if things are any better yet and I imagine it will take time. I have noticed what I believe to be improvements though. I guess the moral of this story is sometimes you have to use your own brain and do what you know is right for you.

Hi All, I am a 37 year old mother of 4, with a history of severe Hemiplegic migraines (up to 14 a month). I've been on Verapamil and Topamax for 7-8 months with a gradual increase of the Topamax to 150 mg a day. Before I start writing this I have to preface it with two things: First, Before Topamax I was one of those women my friends refer to as a "Supermom", I home school my kids and used to love it, we normally have a lot of fun and I have a successful, happy marriage. Second, on Topamax, I went from 14 migraines a month to 0. It didn't happen over night, they went away as we ramped up the dosage, but for the last few months I have had no migraines, I can feel it occasionally when my head is fighting one off, but nothing an Advil won't stop, and for those of us who've lived with trying to care for kids while having migraines (especially Hemiplegic) you may understand why I initially put up with the following: I started out with the tingling in my hands and feet (that went away in a couple of months), word finding difficulties (which never really went away, I just learned to accept it),occasional blurred vision which never lasts very long but which has been an issue the entire time I've been on the med, and weight loss ...I am 5'4" and was only 118 lbs to start with, and have nearly "disappeared" into a size 0 and 105 lbs, and it doesn't matter how much I eat, I've been trying 3 meals, snacks, cookies, candy, you name it, I can't gain weight. I was never nauseous, no diarrhea, I just don't get hungry... I had to start wearing a watch at one point to remind myself to feed the kids, because if they didn't ask, they weren't getting lunch until 2:00 because I wasn't getting hungry! Soda does taste like metal (fortunately I don't drink it normally anyway), and you do get loopy with one glass of anything alcoholic.
Then to add to the lovely appearance of skin and bones, my hair is falling out. Before Topamax I worked out regularly, I am even on commercials for my gym (recorded a year ago), since Topamax, I was so tired, depressed, and so afraid of losing weight that I stopped working out. Now a woman who has always made it a goal to set a good example for my daughters that a fit body is the goal, not a thin body, has her mother in law telling her that she looks "bulimic"! In August I noticed I was crying a lot, then I thought well, maybe it's the Topamax, so I started drinking more water and it went away... so I've been very careful to drink A LOT of water and only decaf tea while on this med, but apparently that wasn't enough, because a few weeks ago my husband pointed out that I stopped showering every day. I have been crying at the drop of a hat for a couple of months again, and I have never been someone to cry in public, I have even started crying in front of my daughters friends' mothers and near tears in front of her teacher over the littlest things... then last weekend I found myself with four hours to myself in my house for the first time in months and I was thinking about how I might be able to use it for unspeakable things like running away, or worse... if those aren't signs of a pretty severe depression I don't know what are, fortunately I recognized them and put them together with the memory problems, etc. As for the memory loss, there have been problems with that for months as well, my daughter has been telling me I "have a bad rememberer" , This weekend everything culminated and other people were recognizing the memory issues that I had been keeping private until now (including my husband). Before that, I would be in the kitchen cooking and forget what I was doing, I went to drive to a party this weekend and forgot where I was going, so I called a friends husband and he had to tell me four times where to go before I could retain it (at first he thought I was joking) and then I still couldn't remember the name of the place, only the # and street, I haven't been able to remember routes to places I used to drive... I'll find myself sitting at a light not sure where to go, and making mistakes with our money because I forgot whether I did or didn't pay a bill (something I've never done, we have always had excellent credit). On Topamax I went from feeling like an attractive, successful, good mom,with a happy family... to constantly stressed, even by things I had previously enjoyed doing, and a completely depressed failure... but I had no migraines. I have now been weaning off the Topamax for a few days. I was playing phone tag with my neurologist... so due to the urgency of the problem I took myself down to 100 mg a day. I have since spoken with my neurologist and I am going off of it completely... by the way don't ever discontinue this med without ramping off of it, doing so can cause a seizure. I am unbelievably grateful that I put 2 and 2 together the weekend I had time to myself and got lost going to the party and I already feel more awake, less tearful and depressed... I know that things will be ok anyway. I hope that anyone reading this who is having memory or emotional issues on Topamax and just brushing them aside (because they don't want to risk going back to the migraines or whatever), will get off this med. Please realize that this med could have cost me, my kids and my husband a lot more than my migraines ever will. I have never experienced depression before Topamax, and I can't say that I'm completely back to myself yet, but I hope that when I am off this med I will find normal again, and I pray it will be without migraines, but I know that I wouldn't wish these past few months that I've put myself and my family through on anyone. Now, I need to go take a shower :) , then I'm going to my neurologist to pick up some 25 mg samples to continue ramping off! Good luck to you all!

I started with 25 mg for migraines and upped dosage by 25mg pweek for 4 weeks till I reached 100 mg per day. Right away this didnt work because you cant half the pills because the taste will kill you. but once I adjusted to the 50 mg it was ok. There are side effects. I have cured my life long addiction to coca cola. I can no longer drink soda, it tastes gross, really vile, and I have lost almost twenty pounds sfter one month. The no soda gave me incentive, so I have been dieting, but the topamax only seems to help. I have only had one migraine this month, on the monring of my periods arrival. This hasnt happened in twenty years. Ive been on all sorts of meds throughout the years. I love topamax. I have had some other side effects. I am diagnosed as bipolar, and do not take medicine because the depakote made me a zombie. Life has been much easier, although on the days I up my dosage I was a bit hyperemotional. Nothing too bad though. I was, however, unable to drink two glasses of wine on this medication. I did have some spacey moments, and tingly fingers as well. Like I said before, nothing compared to Depakote, and nothing that I wouldnt trade for ONe hormonal migraine a month. I love this stuff.

Taking Topamax for 2 years started out at 25 mgs 3 times a day for a mood stabalizer (bi-polar). Had tingling in hands and feet sometimes in face. Lost waight, pop tasts nasty, sleepy, short term memory loss, slurred speach. Now I take 100mg at bed time have no symptoms except I still am able to controll my eating (had a problem with over eating) no more road rage but I still felf a little depressed and did cry so I was not to stable until Citalopram 10mg at bedtime and Adderall XL 10mg in the morning was added. Now I finally feel like a totaly normal person. No more anxiety, mood swings, crying, paranoia,or any other weird stuff. I feel pretty good. Rarely I get pins and needles in my hands or feet or I forget where I put something.

My 56 year old son. Jim, is Bipolar. He was taking three medications, one of them being Topamax. The Dr. that prescribed this medication died and the new Drs. thought Jim was doing fine so they continued on with the same medication. Jim became fecal incontinent. We did numerous medical tests to see if this had any basis. None was found. Over a years period (Jim's third year using Topamax) Jim began losing his memory. This doesn't sound too horrific unless you know that Jim has 160 IQ and total recall memory. He never had to read anything more than once and he could quote verbatim almost anything from any page. Total recall of phone numbers and names, etc. At first the Drs said this was early onset of Alzheimer’s. He was being cared for by this time with a battery of Drs. Neurologists, medical, psychiatrists and doing some very extensive testing. Finally it was judged that no, Jim does not have Alzheimer’s. However he continued to quickly decline. He by now was both urinary and fecal incontinent. His speech was slurred and he was unable to bath himself. He required around the clock help. He would ask me questions like, did I go to school? Did we live as so and so town? Then he asked, is my name Jim? This was hard to hear but then he quit talking altogether, was staggering and would respond to telling him walk this way or sit here but little else. Finally the Neurologist told me he was almost certain that Jim had a rare brain disease and it was always fatal within a year. He determined that Jim was in the advanced stages and probably had 2 to 6 weeks to live. I was devastated! Jim was sitting in the office when the Dr. said this and he made no recognition that he heard or understood anything.

I started talking to friends about this and one of them said call her friend a paralegal nurse practioner. I did and she asked me "Why is Jim taking Topamax"? My answer I consider rather stupid now but then it was the truth, I answered "because the Dr. prescribed it". She said, titrate him off Topamax and then call me. I went to his Dr. at the time and the Dr. was most reluctant to take Jim off this medication. He accused me of "playing Dr" and was most insulting. I persisted and said if he wouldn't I would change Drs. Later I understand he took Jim off much too fast and we did have really serious side affects. We halved his dosage every two days and in 6 days he was off Topamax. Jim went into a catatonic state for several hours at a time about four times. There was about 4 days and nights that neither of us got any sleep. He had repetitive thoughts that nearly drove him crazy (His words). The sixth day Jim started talking but then would go into these catatonic states for hours. When he came out of them he would talk and explain some things, then he would quit talking again and he later explained the thoughts were going so fast in his head this was the only way he could preserve his sanity was to just "blank out".
After about two weeks of this intense illness and no help from his Dr. and Jim refused to go into the hospital, in his talking moments he said they would just fill him with sedative drugs and he wanted to get as clear as possible from these. To make a very long story short this was one year ago, three Doctors ago and Jim was relieved from his repetitive thoughts by Fluvoxamine, but that spiked him into a manic phase and eventually he went into the hospital. He is on a complete new regime of meds now but we always research any new med BEFORE taking it. It will never be just "because the Dr. prescribed it" again. By the way, Jim was taking lithium at the time Topamax was originally prescribed and gaining a lot of weight. His original RX was for weight control~! It didn't work but it nearly killed him. I called the paralegal back to thank her but she had left the law firm and no one can locate her. Our Guardian Angel????

Hi Everyone,
I have been taking Topamax 25 mg for 1 week. I can't stand it. Today I am to up my dosage to 50 mg.I am not sure if I want to do that. The side effects suck.. I think I would rather just deal with my migraines, at least I know how to do that since I have had them for over 25 years. I have tried everything and nothing has worked so the Dr. and I thought we would give this a try.
I am trying to keep my place of employment happy with trying to cut down on the migraines but nothing works.
Most days I just want to give up.
Hopefully we will be able to figure something out.

I can't stand the pickhands and feet, the stumbling like I am drunk( and I dont' drink) nothing tastes right anymore, I have the shakes and I ache.
And all it does is makes me sleepy and like I am in another world.
I went to work today and made it half an hour before I came home because I stumbled and almost fell over. And when the boss talked to me it was like I wasn't there. So I came home. I don't know but I don't like it at all.

I started on Topamax about a week ago after coming off Seroquel. I am bipolar and had a break through in June. My doctor had me on Seroquel to control any possible rapid cycling. Unfortunately the Seroquel made me anxious so after 7 months we agreed to try Topamax.

So far, my stomach is upset if I eat too much. Soday tastes like crap. I have minimal tingling at 150 mgs. Chocolate upsets my stomach. I feel ditzy. I can't sleep more than three or four hours. And I am having to pee all the time.

I am going to have a referenced EEG in three weeks. Hopefully at that time the neuropsychiatrist will determine what drugs I really should be on. I am losing weight but I don't think it's worth it.

I have been on 100 mg of topamax twice a day now for over three years. Most of the early side effects have worn off like soda tasting bad and the memory loss. I never had any hair loss. Also the weight loss has stopped and I did gain it back which really stinks. Anyway, the reason I was looking, was that in the last several weeks, I have been suffering horrible body aches and joint pain. My hands and knees hurt very badly. I am 39 years old and hate to think that arthritis has set in so quickly. And I know that I can't have the flu with no other symptoms and so often. Does anyone else have these symptoms? Also I wonder why these could have started after so many years of taking it.I have tried to wean myself off in the past and the migrains came back full force.

hi my daughter has been on topamax for 3 weeks she has had a back ache ever since she began her dosage which started at 25mg per day and increased to 100mg by week 3.
she suffers bipolar and so far have noticed a great improvement but no weight loss,plenty of tingreling in her hands and feet and also her lips.
does anyone have any aches and pains in their back?

Hi-new here and new to Topamax! I am taking Topamax for BiPolar. I have tried a dozen different drugs and they all seem to make me gain weight. Thsi seems to not have that listed as a side effect. As a health careworker I am very dedicated to being on top of knowing the side effect of my meds. I have been having issues with hair loss and thought it was again issues with my thyroid but must have been the Depakote-still hasn't stopped-guessing it's not going to huh?
Anyhow, I have tingling in my face-anyone else??? I have found that soda tastes HORRIBLE! Not such a bad thing though! I have found that my appetite isn't too vast either.
Anyhting I should be seriously worried about???

My husband has been taking Topomax for a year along with Wellbutrin and Lamictal for Bipolar 2. He also has the often tingling, he describes it as crawling bees, on his feet, numbness in his hands. He bruises very easily now, and the worst symptom is the chronic muscle bursitis and joint aches. We were'nt sure at first, but after every test in the book came back negative, and realizing the pain started when the drug was started, he is finally off of the drug and the pain...unfortunately, the mental symptoms may soon reoccur. Has anyone else dealt with this?

Okay, I'm 15 and I take 200 mg per day of Topamax for Bipolar. I had read to page 3 and hadn't seen anyone taking it for that, or admitting it.
I'm also diabetic and I take Metformin (Glucophage-fage?) for that, and I take Naltrexone for cutting addiction, and I take Geodon for Bipolar, I guess. I also take Lunesta to sleep.
I take the Topamax in the morning with Metformin and Geodon when I get up around 6:30. When I wake up, just about every morning, I feel soo nauseous until I have something in my stomach. If I feel too sick, I can't eat, and my mouth starts to water and I just have to sit by the stool and pray something comes up so its over. I don't know if Topamax causes this though, but its horrible.
So after I take my meds, I get to school and I usually eat breakfast, sometimes even if I have eaten at my house before school. So I don't really see much on the weight loss side of things, which is another reason I was put on it, because Depakote made me gain 80 lbs.
When I get to first hour, which used to be P.E, and is now English, I am usually not prepared. I still don't have last week's assignment done.
2nd hour P.E. I never used to participate in, and now I am, that might be because of the class change, but I'm not for sure. I didn't get the make up work for Health done though, even though I got an A+ on the Test we had today.
I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I am in the gifted program in my school, so I am very capable. Just so you know. Keep that in mind while reading this.
3rd hour Algebra. I usually sleep. If I'm awake, I have to concentrate extra hard, because the number and letters just don't make sense, and not because its Algebra. Today in math was a special scene because I said something wrong about a problem, it was like, 74 - 66 and we had to find the middle poin And do something so it was 70 + 4 and 70 - 4 and I thought the 4's were 6's so I said so. And he agreed and then he realized I was wrong and made a big deal about it. And all the guys started laughing and all I was thinking was not to let them see me cry. So I held it in until my throat was on fire. But I still cried a little bit.
4th hour. If I'm not asleep, I'm refusing to do work in Science class. Like today, I got sent to the office for not having the supplies to work on the project.
5th hour. I don't usually sleep. This is a class like Home Ec.
6th hour Art. I'm usually really defiant, refusing to do work, complaining about the assignment. I hold a steady C in that class.
7th hour Spanish. I never sleep in here, and I have a 95% A in here. I like this class.
When I get home, I am on the computer for all hours of the evening. Until its time for bed. But when I go to bed, I end up laying there for like, an hour or two, even though I have taken the Lunesta.
You know, I think I just rambled on about nothing. I think there are very little useful facts about Topamax side effects in here. Oh well.
So, to sum it up. When I'm at the CPU, my legs fall asleep. When I get up from the chair, I'm all achy and sore. In the morning, I'm nauseous. I sleep all day at school. I have no motivation. I get to feeling like a want to drop out at least once a week. I want to cut at least once a week. Although its been more than a month, thank you. I procrastinate like everything. I don't do homework. I spend all my time on the computer. I don't have many friends, because they don't like the way I act/seem.

talk to ******

I have been on Topamax since December 5, 2005 and I have experienced the following: tingling in my feet and my fingers, sleeping is more deep, horrible loss of words when trying to talk/complete sentences while talking; kind of like a stuttering problem. Memory loss. Even though I have had these side affects this is the best medicine I have ever been on for the treament of bipolar. I feel great, I never want to fight with anyone, yet i also don't feel doped up on medication. I will continue searching for another medicine while staying on topamax.

I'm Bipolar Mixed, OCD and I've been taking 50 mg. Topamax daily for about 3 months now and I have noticed fatigue, mild depression, decreased libido, and impotence since using this drug. I also take Paxil 20 mg. and Wellbutrin 150 mg. to try and combat the impotence. I don't know if I will have to discontinue Topamax, increase Wellbutrin or add Viagra; these meds are getting expensive. The Topamax calms my mood and helps with the appetite increase from Paxil though. Also, I noticed an increase in the decrease of libido once i started Topamax in addition to Paxil's contributing impotence. Any input would be helpful.

green spots .. lol..but only when i look at something red? the pharmacist thinks im crazy.. lol..shes right ..im bipolar but what does that matter..anyone else get that side effect? Im only on 25mg 2x a day and only for 5days so far..oh and yes im stupid stupid stupid :P