Topamax and empty stomach

I was given topamax to treat headaches and cyclical mood disorder. I was not given any info about side effects or that, at the time(April of 2006), the drug was not FDA approved for treating mood disorders. I took about 3 25mg tablets a day for 6 weeks and started noticing pain in my chest, stomach, back, and neck, my heart felt irregular as well. Towards the end of the 6 weeks, I felt so bad that at times that I had to crawl to the bathroom at home because my body and heart felt so weak. I weighed 135 pounds before starting the drug and 117 after, lot of weight to lose for me in such a short period of time(my weight very rarely fluctuates at all). I started noticing that when I would eat a large meal, I would then be hungry with an empty stomach an hour later, and about 15-20 minutes after taking my 2nd pill for the day I would feel shooting chest pains and become slightly dizzy, I would take my third pill at home a couple before bed and the symptoms were even worse. I called the on-line nurse late at night a few times and they would say it was just anxiety, my friends and family that knew about all this would also say that I was just worrying too much. I decided to take matters in my own hands and started doing research on the drug. I found all the information I needed, that was not given to me, decided I was experiencing some of the specific side effects people had noticed. I finally decided on my own to stop taking the drug after my doctor told me that all this was because I wasn't taking a high enough dosage, I still can't believe that she said that!!

Now that I've had some time to look back and gather myself a little, I know that I also experienced side effects such as dizziness, loss of taste, decreased sex-drive, Loss of wittiness, feeling like being in slow-motion, slurring speech, heartbeat going from 64bpm sitting on the couch to 128bpm after walking to the bathroom to pea, difficulty breathing, basically felt like crap but was too drugged up to really notice.

It did stop my headaches and stabalized my mood but I think the improvements in mood were primarily due to the fact that I wasn't all there. DEFINETLY NOT WORTH ALL THE SIDE EFFECTS!!!

As soon as I stopped taking this, I felt much better in the head, noticing that I was probably running on about 70% for the past few weeks. Also gained back all the weight very quicky. I felt like myself again and was rejuvanized in my life!! Primarily all the side effects disappeared and I moved on with my life. Unfortunately the chest pains slowed down but did not disappear. I felt like, and still feel like, I had a broken Sternum. I went to the same clinic and had numerous tests done(EKG, blood tests, X-rays), everything came up clear. I have had to tell some of my friends, numerous times in the past year, not to restle with me or hug me too hard because it hurts.

I have not been taking any perscription drugs for the past 14 months because of all of this and now have recently started feeling increased pain in my chest(the chest pains never completely went away) . I do not have health insurance but am going to get this all checked out ASAP, I will post again once I find out what's going on.

Hi, I have been taking topamax for about 5 weeks now, maybe a little longer and only 25mg. I have to say my migraines are gone for the most part, except little what I would call headaches that don't last long now and then and I did have one migraine around my menstrual cycle. My side effects have been abnormal menstrual cycle, altered taste (especially pop), slight not hungry feeling, and urinary problems (UTI, frequent need to go, etc...) A couple of side effects that I think are from the medicine because I have seen them listed as side effects are sore throat, tongue has a burning sensation, but not all the time. Has anyone else had these side effects? I have read them as side effects (sore throat, burning sensations), but have never read anywhere of anybody actually having them, especially the tongue thing. Any input would be helpful. Thanks