Topamax and constipation

Hi, Reading all of your posts. I have been 100mg of Topamax for three years now and my side effects consist of tingle of the fingers/hands/feet,
oily T zone (face), short term memory loss, extreme fatigue, loss of taste. which I don't think is necessary a bad thing. haven't drank soda in three years due to the carbonation. Anything to sweet I can eat or drink. I have to water down my juices otherwise there to sweet. and I experience far less
migraines. from 2-4 a week or week long migraines where I would go to ER to get a shot of morphine and I was still feeling the pain. to only maybe 1 a month. But if I spot it fast enough a couple Tylenol will help before I have to take a Zomig to knock me out. It sucks being on meds for the rest of your life being young, this started for me age 30 I will be on migraine meds for life so my neurosurgeon says, and they don't think its related but I also ended up with 5 ulcers and a broken esophageal sphincter which now gave me GERD and requires life long meds which oh yeah I have constipation but is that from the GERD or the Topamax? So I don't take anything unless I absolutely have to. which includes my asthma inhaler or nebs. last thing I need is steroids on top of everything else. I drink coffee all day just to keep me awake but at the same time the min I stop I sleep hard and sound. Go figure.

Okay, this is the comprehensive list
memory loss, cognitive damage, exhaustion, mood swings, suicidal ideation, paranoid ideation, auditory hallucinations, depression, daily weeping.

Dry mouth, enamel stripped off teeth, no sweating, constipation and resulting hemorrhoids, loss of appetite and extreme weight loss, tingling in extremities, trembling hands, twitching eye muscles, myoclonic jerks

I took it for severe epilepsy. I had two children on it fine, no problems. It put my epilepsy into complete remission, but for all the years I took it my life was destroyed by the emotional and mental side effects. Ended up homeless and in a domestic violence relationship, which I got out of when I stopped taking the poison pills. Coming off it felt like waking from a bad dream, but without epilepsy.

The effects which never went away were the dry mouth and no sweating, the enamal is stripped off my teeth. The mood swings and depression and exhaustion and memory loss and cognitive damage never went away. The loss of appetite and extreme weight loss(92lbs at 5'1" at first, 98lbs after tolerance) never stopped, nor did the constipation and resulting hemorrhoids.

Initial dose increases caused what I understand to be myoclonic spasms, which was a change in my seizure pattern, and other seizure pattern changes. The spasms came immediately after the final dose increase, were incapacitating in severity and lasted for about a half hour, and didn't fade for a week or two.

Did put epilepsy into complete remission.

I have been on Topamax for four months for epilepsy and I love it. I do experience some of the above mentioned side effects but my seizures were not grand mal seizures they were absence seizures. so the memory loss thing is a non issue for me, as far as depression, didn't get that one, weight loss; glad to have it, tingling; not that bad; the coldness; really only bothersome at bedtime so I take a bath at night, a really hot bath. Confusion, I was confused a lot because of the seizures so, again don't know which is worse. For me I feel this is a miracle drug. I'm not sure about the abdominal issues that is my only concern right now, that is what I am dealing with constipation and maybe some menstrual issues??

I have been taking Topamax for 4 months. I got up to 100 mgs but went back to 75 mgs and am going to go to 50 mgs to see if things improve. My migraines have diminished 90% which is wonderful. I've gone from 128 lbs to 116 lbs and don't need to lose more but I am not hungry ever. Food has no appeal to me. I feel nervous all the time. The tingling of my fingers doesn't bother me or the forgetting of words which seems to be subsiding. But the nervousness is driving me crazy. I feel like everything is bothering me and my life is slipping away. I've had constipation but think it's because I'm not eating properly. I'm going to see if I can get away with taking only 50 mgs of Topamax. I love not having the migraines but I don't want to live like a zombie either. Anyone feel like this?