Topamax and rash

After taking Topamax for six months, I found my self different person.... I started feeling this way just in the first few weeks after I started the medication, but the simptoms incleased with the time....Anxiety, nervousness, panick attacks, negative thinking and depression....crying, making up problems from nothing, hair loss also....I decided to stop it, slowly and without any concequences I thought I am out of it....But just a couple weeks I stop it is I noticed some red spots on my skin on the lower legs, soon they became more and stronger..... Two months later I was in abnormal stress that I am going to be sick from a terrible desease... Read so much on Internet.... I can explain how terrible I felt and even though I did blood tests (everything was in normal range!!) and spoke with so many doctors, nobody could tell me what exactly is wron with me. One Dermatologist named the skin problem as Progressive Pigmentary purpura and gave me a cream for that. Thanks a lot for that because the spots started desapearing, but it may come again.... nobody knows for sure.... I think this is another side effect of Topamax, that nobody had before..... Please tell me if somebody else had the same situation... I will feel much more relieved....

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've been on Topomax for about 3-4 months now. I've had memory loss, slurred speech, decreased concentration (I have to re-read something several times to understand it) tingling in the hands and feet, depression, increased anger, loss of appetite, weight loss. I'm now at the point where I have a rash on my leg, severe nausea, and abnormal bleeding. I going to follow up with my neuro and PCP to see what's going on so we'll see. My migraines have decreased from 3-4 a week to maybe 1 a week, so it has been worth it so far so I can function for work and for my kids as a single mother. I've suffered from migraines for about 10 years and can't take the pain no more!!! If anyone has experienced the nausea, rashes or bleeding please reply.

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!!!

I'm on 50 mgs of Topamax, and it's really fuckin" me up man. Listen to this crrraaaazzzzzy ass story. My Mom took me to MCV (Virginia's State funded Hospital) on Monday, August 28th to pick up my seizure medicine and she dropped me off in front of the Gateway building and told me to go in and wait for her while she went and parked the car. No big deal. Nothing I couldn't handle. I've done this before I started the Topamax. Yeah, right........Well, I went in and sat down for a minute then got up (before she got there), crossed the street over to the pharmacy and got my meds. Crazy thing too was I got on the elevator and went up to the 3rd floor, thinking that I was supposed to meet mom up there. After I started walking down the hall I finally realized I was supposed to have waited for mom in the Gateway building before got my meds. So I got back on the elevator and went back down to the pharmacy and back over to the Gateway building and found her. I thought she was gonna be mad, but she wasn't. Anyway, on the way out of the Gateway building I almost walked out in front of a moving ambulance.
I am like a walking zombie. I have been on Lamictal (anti-epileptic) but the Neurologist is slowly building me up on the Topamax, another anti-epileptic, so that I can quit the Lamictal altogether cuz she's worried about a rash I have developed. Lamictal is known to cause life threatening rashes. She doesn't want me to quit the Lamictal until the Topamax is completely at 200mgs in my system for fear I would have a seizure. So for the time being I will be a zombie without an appetite. I barely eat anything. I'm always thirsty though. And driving.......HA! Forget that! I don't even WANT to try it. I might kill myself or someone else and/or end up lost somewhere. Wouldn't that be a bitch!
I'm willing to see this thing through though. I'm tough and think I can handle it.

I am having severe tingling (feels like when your feet fall asleep and are trying to "wake up" in my feet and in the palms of my hands. My headaches have sudsided 50% but i am still having to get demerol/phenergan shots atleast once a month. I take 100mg per day. I also have extremely itchy skin, but no rash. Has any one else had these problems.

Patty