This registry is a place to share positive or negative side effects of using Topamax. If you directly experienced a side effect while using Topamax, then we encourage you to enter it here. Please note that entries here are the experiences of individual users, and in no way means that you or anyone else will experience the same side effect, since the same medication affects people in different ways. Please always contact your physician.
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December 20th
2008
10:49 PM
I have been on Topamax for about two years for migraines, and was very pleased that after the first month or two, most of the noticeable side effects (dizziness, flat-tasting soda, etc.) disappeared, and the Topamax has been very effective in cutting my migraines in half. However, I've recently begun to question whether other health problems I've been experiencing are actually Topamax side effects and I just didn't realize it.
The first is intermittent stomach troubles that have been ongoing for the last year. Starting last January, I started experiencing diarrhea, stomach pain, and other persistent gastrointestinal problems, and through online research, I decided that it was probably either a spastic colon or Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I lost 15-20 lbs. in the spring and summer, but the problems would always recede before I took them to my doctor, then resurface just long enough to irritate me before disappearing again. It never occurred to me until recently that these could be Topamax side effects.
The other possible side effect that I assumed was an unrelated problem is interruptions to my sleep pattern. I have been experiencing some occasional bouts of sleep paralysis, and which researching this, read that in normal sleep patterns, one is supposed to enter REM sleep (when dreaming occurs) after about 90 minutes. I frequently enter into dream sleep in as short as a 20-30 minute nap, which does not seem to be normal. Again, researching this, the only two explanations that came up were narcolepsy, which I obviously do not have, and that my normal sleep patterns are being interrupted "by medication." So I'm back to wondering if it's the Topamax. Has anyone experienced similar sleep symptoms?
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