Topamax and severity

I was on 200 mg/day of topamax for migraines. It did lessen the frequency and severity of the migraines. I lost 20 lbs and looked great. I felt horrible. I was suicidal and paranoid, cried frequently and thought that I was going to die. I was very tired, probably due to the topamax and the fact I was only eating about 500 cal per day on a good day, I was only rarely hungry and then would feel full after a few bites. I loved being thin, but was too tired to enjoy my life. I'm a nurse and couldn't remember anything, so I wrote everything down. My husband said that talking to me was like playing charades, because I couldn't remember the words for what I wanted to say. People would talk to me and my comprehension was very poor - it was like they were talking in another language that I didn't understand very well. I had always been sharp and quick witted, but on Topamax I was lost in a brain fog. I went off the drug under an MD's care. It took a while to feel like my old self, but life is now normal.

I was considering going back on it to lose the weight I put back on, but after reading all the other posts, I realize it's just not worth it. No, not everyone experiences all the awful side effects, but the side effects are not rare and some of them are horrifying. One of my friends who went on it couldn't even remember her children's names and she was on just 25 mg. I think this drug can make you feel like you are dying - just like a cancer patient at end stage. You don't want to eat, there is little enjoyment in life, your brain is foggy like you've been going through chemo and you feel incredibly sad as if you're going to die.

My advice would be to use the drug only if absolutely necessary. Try acupuncture, other migraine meds or seizure medications before this one. If you are taking it and notice that you are having extreme side effects, ask your doctor to be taken off it. If you can take it and the only side effects you get are a little pins and needles and an aversion to soda, go for it! But please note if you have strong emotional changes and try to eat healthy while on topamax.

I took it for severe epilepsy. I had two children on it fine, no problems. It put my epilepsy into complete remission, but for all the years I took it my life was destroyed by the emotional and mental side effects. Ended up homeless and in a domestic violence relationship, which I got out of when I stopped taking the poison pills. Coming off it felt like waking from a bad dream, but without epilepsy.

The effects which never went away were the dry mouth and no sweating, the enamal is stripped off my teeth. The mood swings and depression and exhaustion and memory loss and cognitive damage never went away. The loss of appetite and extreme weight loss(92lbs at 5'1" at first, 98lbs after tolerance) never stopped, nor did the constipation and resulting hemorrhoids.

Initial dose increases caused what I understand to be myoclonic spasms, which was a change in my seizure pattern, and other seizure pattern changes. The spasms came immediately after the final dose increase, were incapacitating in severity and lasted for about a half hour, and didn't fade for a week or two.

Did put epilepsy into complete remission.

Just one question I have been on this stuff at the beginning dose for less than a week. My eyes hurt, my head is about to explode, I am sick as a dog, I lost 5 pounds, I can't eat, constipated, can't sleep, can't function, ringing in my ears, and the ADD is unbelievable. I am a medical transcriptionist I kind of need to be able to work, no work, no pay. Topamax is going bye-bye for sure but how long till the side effects go away?