Topamax and seizure

I am approaching 8 mos on Topamax. I take it for Epilepsy vice Migraines so my situation is less discretionary. Caffine is a definate no-no on Topamax, it makes you feel confused and crappy immediately after you drink / ingest it. That is the first lesson I learned. Drink plenty of water, that helps your kidneys work through the medicine. I take 75 mg in the morning around 7:30 and my heavy med time is around 11:30 (lunchtime) and then 50 mg at night so I am asleep during my evening heavy med time. Topamax is a miracle and has kept me seizure free for 8 mos. Side effects are light, I just plan accordingly. I would never take Topamax if I did not have to. I just take plenty of notes to overcome my high med times / confusion and seem to be doing pretty well. The big one is CUT OUT CAFFINE. Man, caffine will make you feel really bad.

I started taking Topamax 3 weeks ago. My Neurologist started me on the 25mg dose and gradually moved me up to the 75mg dose. I've had several different side effects. I don't like this medication at all. I want to stop it but I'm afraid because all the web sites say when you stop it you can have seizure's. I have suffered the last 3 years with everyday headache's and would do anything to have relief but cant stand the way this medicine is making me feel. I have felt nausea's for day's. My 3year old has ate more than me. I cry over anything. I'm tired! I've had a headache everyday while on the med's. I have a nasty taste in my mouth. My vision is impaired. I definitely will not stay on this medicine. I would rather deal with my Migraines, then to deal with Migraines and side effects!!!

I have been on Topamax for several years now for crippling migraines. I now take 125 mg at bedtime. I once tried to take myself off of it but, the headaches came back worse than ever So... I went back on. some say that it works because migraines are like a type of seizure. I sure don't know but I'll do anything not to have them like I used to. Recently at night my arms and legs get numb; sometimes one side sometimes both sometimes all I feel is my trunk. It is really scary, but more scary for me is the headaches with the intense nausea that accompanies them. You just can't function. Lately I also feel very tired too! Every one tells me it is just stress from work and "perimenopause" (just what I need more hormonal fluctuation to cause headaches) I really wonder if all this increased fatigue could also be the Topamax ... I mean I could easily sleep 11 hours per night if you let me! Has this happened to anyone? Did perimenopause complicate your treatment?

I started with 25 mgs of topamax about 5 months ago for migraine prevention. I very gradually increased the dosage to 50 mgs and started having the usual side effects of tingling in hands, metal soda taste, concentration problems; but not bad enought to make me stop as my migraines were stopping as well! Then I upped the dosage to 75 mgs, and the side effects were sudsiding. My nurologist had me up the dosage to 100mg, and that very night I awoke from sleep having my first partial conscious siezure. At the time I didn't know what the heck was happening to me and thought I may be having a stroke. I am only 44 years old and I ran across the street at 2:30 in the morning to my neighbors house who is a nurse. Long story short, it took uppin the dosgae two more times and having this happen each time I upped the dose, to finally realize that it was the topamax that was causing the seizures. Now my nurologist is gradually decreasing my dosage to wean me off the topamax, and hopefully the siezures will stop! Has anyone had any experiences like this? Or am I the only one who get s siezures from an anti sewizure medication?

Hi All,

I have been taking Topamax for about 3 years now for migraines, and it has been a godsend. I am taking 200mg a day, 100mg in the AM and 100mg in the PM. I experienced all the usual side effects, confusion, dizziness, bad taste, tingling, blurry vision, etc. but these do go away with time. Here are a few things that can be done for some of them. For the dizziness, your doctor can prescribe for you Antivert. For the tingling, your doctor can prescribe for you, I think it was called HZTC or something like that, it was a water pill, I am not sure of the name, but ask your doc, I am sure they will know the correct name when you ask them about it. All of the side effects will go away with time. I did not experience the hair loss, so I can't say if that will go away, but the others will. If you do decide that you want to stop taking Topamax, please do not go off it "Cold Turkey", I have read up on it, and you could put yourself at big risk by doing this, seizures, etc., remember, this was first a seizure med. Please wean yourself off.

Hello my 16 year old son has been on topamax for a siezure for about 8 months and this scool year he is failing or about failing 4 classes he seems to be kind of dispondant doesn,t really care that his video games have been taken away because of the grades , he seems more distant than before he started taking it . please help me . a concerned mom..

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 over 4 months pregnant, and I got diagnosed with Epilepsy on Valentines Day, and my doctor put me on Topamax 25 mg. to start off with. I was not having seizures that often, but now it is everyday.I feel comatose all the time, and the hot Flashes are so bad they will send me into a seizure. Also the nausea is horrible, and it says on the label not to take with antihistimines. Well Dramamine and Phenergan both are antihistimines. My doctor keeps assuring me that this is the drug for me. Pray for Me

I had have been on topamax only for about 7 weeks @ 100 mg a day 50 at morning 50 evening now my hair was has thick as a polar bears and now it is fine. The slurring speach has left but I have now been experiencing incorrect word use. I still experience loss of sleep. Redness and ichyness of eyes. I have had 2 migraines in the last 2 weeks but have not experience another seizure I have however experience a few twitch of body moments (connected to problem or not I don't know) also within the last 2 weeks