Topamax and chest pain

Hello, everyone. I didn't know there was a page like this, but I'm glad there is. I've been on Topamax for 3 weeks because the medicine I was on for 2 years didn't do anything and the headaches weren't going away at all anymore; they were continuous. The first week at 25 mg I had the tingling for a day or two, the involuntary muscle twitches, the terrible mouth taste, and the chest pain. All but the terrible taste went away by the second week at 50 mg but I started getting wobbly legs and dropsy. I read an article somewhere where a person on Tomamax called the drug Stupamax or Dopamax and said anyone on it turned into a box of rocks. The box hit me at 3 weeks and 75 mg. I'm not wobbly anymore, I'm still irritatingly dropsy, and I am doing things that only a person with half a brain would do. Plus, my ears have been ringing for two days, and today I feel like I'm in a tunnel and everything is far away. I'm getting ready to call my doctor. On the OTHER hand, I haven't had a headache that lasted for more than a half hour in 3 weeks. So what's best? Going back to headaches or continue to evolve into a box of rocks?

I can't believe all of these posts, wow. I was starting to feel as though I was alone with all of the symptoms I was experiencing. I started this drug 2 1/2 weeks ago at 25mg am/pm and am currently up to 75mg am/am. I have really bad chest pain/tightness and mild shortness of breath. As someone else had mentioned, pop is enhanced not dulled, seems as though its like pins on my tongue. I have been forgetting words but not too bad, just for a couple of seconds. The anxiety is the worst, sometimes I lay in bed and the chest pain will increase and I get so axious it feels as though I'm going to die. I went to the ER last night but they did an EKG and told me my heart was fine that the chest pain most likely was not related to my heart. (I'm a 22 year old male and have never had problems with my heart) These chest pains only started after starting this drug. I'm ready to try something else. This was the first drug I was put on for my seizures, my doctor said it could possibly help the seizures/headaches/weight. These side effects are just too much.

Chest pain, tightness in chest, sore throat, tingling in hands and feets, feeling like I have a cold, a little hard to breath

I too had chest pains!! That is something that they do no tell you.

This medication definitely needs to be re-evaluated by the FDA, to determine what damage it may do to your heart.

I was already seeing a psychiatrist for Panic disorder so I had valium at home. However, I still ended up in the ER for my chest pains after getting no call back from my dr for two weeks telling her that I was having all of the other side effects ( except the hair loss), tingling in the hands and feet, fatigue, moodiness, different tastes of things, especially colas.

Nevertheless, I was diagnosed at the ER with having a panic attack....DUHHHH, how could I possibly be having a panic attack when I had taken about 2 1/2 10 mg valium to try to get my chest to stop hurting. I explained to the ER dr. that I had started taking the topamax 3 weeks prior...There absolutely needs to be better education of this drug and its terrible side effects!!!

There is a strong warning regarding heartbeat irregularities and Topamax. It is in the PDR and professional literature but is usually not told to patients.

I am an RN, wanted to lose around 30 pounds and my doctor prescribed this medication. He did not tell me about any side effects other than possible dizziness when first starting the medication. I wondered why my thick and healthy hair was falling out by the handfulls and why my Diet Coke was undrinkable.. figured out the soft drink part but had to ask him about hair loss before he offered up that it is a very common side effect. But those are the simple, more common things which most people now know about. The cardiac effects are NOT well known until a person really looks for that particular effect in professional literature. People NEED to know. I have been in the hospital for several days and am still having a very rapid heartbeat with a serious irregularity which I have never had before taking Topamax and which is documented in SOME literature for physician prescribing only.

Today I will be having heart tests and possibly even a heart cath. to determine if the Topamax which I stopped taking 2 weeks ago is the cause of my own irregular heartbeat ( Ventricular Ectopy) and chest pain.

IF you don't need this medication very badly for seizures, please do not take if " off label".
The risks are sometimes much more severe than the condition being treated.

I wish you all health and happiness. God bless.

Texas RN

I have been on Topamax for 6 years and the side effects that I have experienced have been dry eyes, dry mouth, muscle/joint aches, chest pain, memory problems, body odor, fluid retention, weight GAIN (not loss), head aches, mood swings, hallucinations, blurred vision especially at night, tingling/burning of the extremities, and the constant feeling of never being able to get warm. I was on 400mg twice a day, and since the hallucinations, I have been cut back to 100 mg twice a day. My headaches are worse, and I am now experiencing hair loss and hair breakage.