Topamax and moods

I started taking Topamax 3 weeks ago, 25mg for the first week then up to 75mg starting week 2. I am also on Effexor,150mg 1 per day.. I feel good and have had a loss of appetite. My thinking is a little fogged and I must concentrate a bit harder. I started taking this as a pain medication and it works. I am also overweight and know for a fact I've lost. I find myself eating better choices and much smaller portions. My moods are good and I like this medication. Thanks for letting me share ! (:

Laurie

I've been on Topamax since Sept 2007 and the only side effects I have had were at the beginning were the tingling in the hands and feet when I was brining my dosage up. Soda tastes awful but I no longer drink it and that is a godsend after being a heavy drinker of it for years. I do find there are time when I can't find the right word to say, or I forget what I was doing, but I deal with it. I have lost 20 pounds since being on the medication. After being on it for 6 months the tingling is gone, I usually counteracted it by drinking plenty of water in the morning, that got rid of it. The drug has taken away the migraines, and regular headaches I have suffered from for years. It has also stabilized my moods and taken away my anxiety issues. I'm 36 and have never felt better. Topamax is definitely not for everyone. For those that are suffering, please do contact your doctors and try to get off the medication.

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.

Hi. I was on Topamax for about a year for severe pain in my foot. I had nerve pain on the front outside part of my foot so bad I could not walk. I am also a sufferer of chronic migrains and have been hospitalized several times a year for them. I stopped having migrains - didn't realize until now that it was probably the Topamax. I didn't know why they stopped and didn't know that Topamax was used for that. I took it for just over a year. 100 mg a day at bedtime. I lost 40 lbs, the pain in my foot went away, and I haven't had a severe migrain since. I have been off of it for abou 1 1/2 years now, but want to go back on it because of the weight loss and some other nerve pain I am having with my ciatic (sp?) nerve. I did experience tingling in my leg and toes and soda was flat. I didn't know what the leg tingling was from until I read this blog. I can deal with soda being flat because I really don't need the sugar!! I love Topamax. It worked GREAT for me!! The pros far outweigh the cons for me. But everyone is different!!

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.

I have tingling of course of hands and feet. I take it for bi-polar disorder. Every time my dose is increased i freak out as if i am tripping out or as if i am in a dream watching myself. I start to get very paraniod and cannot leave my house but of course i have to so i live in insanity until my body gets used to the new dose. if i forget or mess up and not take it for 2-3 days, i have to go through that process again. I am in between if this medication is worth it or not. It seems to make me more moody although I am taking it to control my moods but at the same time , it seems to help, i don't know i can't seem to keep a thought enough to know. I have lost weight and for that i am happy. I also get the shakes and high anxiety if around alot of people. I think these extreme side affects go away in time but I find with topamax that if I skip doses the effects are pretty extreme so I set a timer to make sure this does not happen.