Topamax and severe mood swings

Hello All,
I"m a 50 year old Mother and Grandma who takes Topamax as a Mood Stabilizer for Bipolar Disorder. I took it about 5 years ago and about 6 months after I started taking it I was struck down with debilitating diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite, extreme weight loss ( 26 pounds in one month ). No one knew what was wrong with me. My psychiatrist actually upped my Topamax dose because I was becoming depressed and having severe mood swings. I was sick for 8 months. I saw a new psychiatrist and he stopped the Topamax because it just was too over medicating at that time and started a different mood stabilizer.

I didn't put 2 and 2 together. I just was happy that the diarrhea and nausea for the most part was gone. I still have nausea frequently but that is from a totally different cause.

In December we discussed that the new mood stabilizer was no longer working so we went back on the Topamax. In April the diarrhea and nausea this time accompanied by vomiting started. I was ready when it started tho even tho I didn't know the cause. I got hooked up with a GI doctor, started probiotics immediately, started eating organic yogurt with as many live active cultures in it as i could find. I would only eat plain boiled rice, boiled macaroni, toast, ripened organic bananas and drink lots of fluid. No gatorade but pedialyte because gatorade has citric acid in it which can be irritating. Pedialyte doesn't. I also drank decaf ice tea with small amounts of sugar.

Now today I read that Topamax can give you diarrhea and if you have a history of diarrhea tell your doctor. Great, just great. Trade my mental health for my physical health but having diarrhea at the most unopertune times does affect my mental health. What am I going to do?

I refuse to take a weight positive mood stabilizer and that is all I'm left with. Like Lithium, Depakote. they will make me as big as a cow. I'd rather have diarrhea to tell you the truth. I don't think I'm gonna tell him.

Missyk10atx

I have strange nerve syndrome in my neck where a nerve sends false pain signals doctors are trying to treat with topamax I am taking 200mg daily and have noticed a few major side effects. 1. a general feeling of displacement, 2, depression 3. severe mood swings 4. change of taste.

I have been on Topamax since January 2005. Currently on 200mg per day, being moved up to 400 soon. I do experience the numbness of face, which in the beginning I would take an odd childish delight in, pushing and pulling on my face (tending to be somewhat high at those times) and telling people "feel this, it's so cool" because it feels to me at those times like my face is made of silly putty. The high part is mostly gone now, and I behave like a rational adult (mostly). I still have more fun that I used to, but that is a good thing. I was one of those people who took life way to seriously before.

I was prescribed Topamax for several reasons, none of them typical. I suffer severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and have been taking Celexa and Wellbutrin to treat it. Over the course of two months I gained 20 pounds on these meds. In addition, I suffer chronic fatigue and fairly severe mood swings (though nothing like what I had had prior to the medication). In light of all of those circumstances, and Topmax's reputation for causing weight loss, raising energy levels, and behaving as a mood stabilizer, I was prescribed this medication essentially for its side effects. I found out afterwards that it is benificial for chronic pain and migraines. I have had only one migraine since I began taking Topamax, and my lower back and neck problems (due do a broken coccyx and whiplash from two separate accidents) are vastly improved as well.

My craving for sweets is significantly decreased, as is my appetite, though both return with a vengeance when I get royally outraged, as I learned two weeks ago. I, also, no longer care for cola, but I don't understand why everyone complains about that, considering how it leaches the calcium out of our bones and puts us all at such great risk for Osteoporosis. I have lost 11 pounds to date. I'm sure it would be more if I would work out more or eat more than 1000 Calories per day, because I know eating so little slows my metabolism. I do suffer from dry mouth. I haven't noticed and of the blurred vision or memory loss, but despite the fact that I am very intelligent, I have always been a very myopic ditz so I wouldn't anyhow. My blood pressure, which was always low before, causing head rushes and dizziness, has stabilized at 120/60, so for the first time in my life it's normal and I no longer have to worry about falling over or having my vision black out if I stand up too suddenly. For me, I love the things this drug has done, and I am sorry to see that it is not a miracle drug for everyone else too.