Topamax and topamax for migraines

I recently started taking topamax for migraines. After increasing my dose to 75 mg twice a day, I am almost migraine free. However, my hair is extremely oily and having to wash it with a clarifying shampoo twice a day. Nothing else has changed other than my this medication so I am assuming it is a side effect of the Topamax. Has anybody else experienced this?

I'm 20 years old and take Topamax for migraines. It works miracles as far as reducing the number of migraines i get. I went from 4 to 5 debilitating migraines every week- to maybe 1 or none. I'm supposed to be taking 75 mg a day but sometimes i only take 50 b/c the lack of concentration holds me back from doing every day things. Instead of feeling awake during the day, i feel like i'm walking through a dream. The dizziness is bad too. Sometimes when i go to stand up i get so dizzy i will actually fall into a wall or all the way to the ground. The scariest thing is when i'm driving and forget that i'm supposed to be driving. It only happens for maybe 30 seconds at a time but it's sort of like falling asleep with your eyes open and very scary --and very dangerous. At first i had all the numbness and tingling and weight loss as well but TRUST ME, that is NOT what you will care about. The worst side effects are d/t to memory loss, lack of concentration and dizziness.

Try a very low dose of this drug at first and continue with that for a while-maybe even months to see if it helps. I think anything over 50 mg seems to produce side effects that are too dangerous and not worth it!

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 have been taking this for about two weeks and have just ramped up to 50 mg. I had a closed head injury last November and have been suffering from balance, headache and memory issues since. Doctor put me on Topamax for headaches and I have had the eye checks after experiencing eye pain but I was fine. Have had slight tingling in my feet and my right eye has been red off and on since starting. My right eye has also been constantly hard to focus.

I have read over and over that the side effects usually go away after about 8 weeks, so I'll see how it does till then. I'm still waiting to see if it helps my headaches, it hasn't yet.

It seems to have made my balance issues worse, and I am constantly dizzy now, although in Topamax's defense, I have been having more dizziness since my injury.

The spinny thingies that used to be there when I close my eyes are gone now, at least they have been since I started at 50 mg.

I'd say the most disconcerting issue I'm having is a feeling of being doped up and becoming more afraid of doing things, like driving a car.

I started Topamax October 12 my Neuro said start at 25 mg and work up to 50mg in the morning and 50 mg at night. The first week I was tired like most people have mentioned. Almost instantly Diet Coke tasted terrible. I was a little dizzy and light headed. DC still taste flat but the other symptoms have gone away. I have never experienced the tingle or weight loss. I am on a low does. No stomach problems for me. One thing is my cramps this month were 2x worse than normal . I am 45 and on Topamax for migraines mostly I think hormonal. I am going to give this a fair shot. I really have not felt more energy. I really wish it would help in that way. I am also taking wellbutrin and prozac for depression that runs in my family all the way from my Great Great Grandmother. I too have have a mild headache off and on when I would normally have a migraine and a advil took it away. I had to take an imitrex last night, and am hoping that is the end of this hormonal headache for the month!

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.

Hi. I was on Topamax for about a year for severe pain in my foot. I had nerve pain on the front outside part of my foot so bad I could not walk. I am also a sufferer of chronic migrains and have been hospitalized several times a year for them. I stopped having migrains - didn't realize until now that it was probably the Topamax. I didn't know why they stopped and didn't know that Topamax was used for that. I took it for just over a year. 100 mg a day at bedtime. I lost 40 lbs, the pain in my foot went away, and I haven't had a severe migrain since. I have been off of it for abou 1 1/2 years now, but want to go back on it because of the weight loss and some other nerve pain I am having with my ciatic (sp?) nerve. I did experience tingling in my leg and toes and soda was flat. I didn't know what the leg tingling was from until I read this blog. I can deal with soda being flat because I really don't need the sugar!! I love Topamax. It worked GREAT for me!! The pros far outweigh the cons for me. But everyone is different!!

I take topamax for migraines. I'm still feeling this out. When I first started about 2 months ago I went through all kinds of crazy symptoms. My husband thought I was loosing it. For some reason my doctor wanted to start me out right away with about 50 in am and 50 at night. The first month was rough.
I read the pamplets and took myself down to a lower dose and worked up slower as the company suggest. I not only had tingly hands and extremties.
But outburst of weeping and anger like never before. Like triple the pms symptoms. There were just all kinds of weird things. In this 2nd month I am taking 100 in the am and 25-50 in the evening. I am now experiencing the acne, itchy skin, inability to concentrate, apathy. Insomnia. In general I don't get chronic headaches. But have yet to see menstrual migraines subside. Sill feeling my way through this. You cannot stop this med abruptly. As many meds. Do not tell you how dangerous they are to stop abruptly. I think every one is individual. Soda's are not flat for me, but enhanced. More carbonated. Which I like. Strange I know.

My doctor put me on Topamax for migraines, but I can not handle the effects. I just started the 75 mg dose just as I was moving into a new college apartment with new roommates, and I felt like I was going crazy! I couldn't eat anything without feeling completely ill, I was spacing out, and I couldn't remember words.. for three whole days I couldn't remember the word 'tapestry.' I finally had to look it up in the dictionary.. not a good sign for a college student. The worst, though, was the overwhelming sense of panic that was getting worse by the day. I was no longer myself! The last straw was a panic attack, complete with hypernentilating. I have never felt so scared in my life. I actually had to go the ER to get something to calm myself down.

So, I decided to stop taking it. My parents talked to my pharmacist, and she told them that Topamax IS the type of drug you can stop "cold turkey." But after a week, I feel almost as bad as I did when I was on the drug! I still can't eat anything. Also, I wake up hours before my alarm goes off, completely sick at my stomach. I feel panicky and nervous. I have several bouts of diarrhea and this morning I almost didn't make it. I share a bathroom with three (normal!) girls, and it is getting to be embarrasing and annoying. Please, can anyone tell me.. when do the side effects go away?? I want to be a normal 19 year old again!

Taking Topamax for 2 years started out at 25 mgs 3 times a day for a mood stabalizer (bi-polar). Had tingling in hands and feet sometimes in face. Lost waight, pop tasts nasty, sleepy, short term memory loss, slurred speach. Now I take 100mg at bed time have no symptoms except I still am able to controll my eating (had a problem with over eating) no more road rage but I still felf a little depressed and did cry so I was not to stable until Citalopram 10mg at bedtime and Adderall XL 10mg in the morning was added. Now I finally feel like a totaly normal person. No more anxiety, mood swings, crying, paranoia,or any other weird stuff. I feel pretty good. Rarely I get pins and needles in my hands or feet or I forget where I put something.

I have been on topamax for almost a year now. I had been having a nearly constant migraine cycle for three months which had to be broken with migranol nasal spray. I then started on escalating dosages of topamax. By 100mg I realized that life was wonderful but that I couldn't retain much information which was a problem as I had just gone back to school for an advanced degree. Upon consultation with my doctor, we reduced my dosage to 50mg and things improved dramatically.

I have experienced some fingertip and toe tingling which have been completely tolerable. I take the medication right before bed so that I don't have problems with fatigue during the day. I do get out of breath easily when I exert myself and carbonated beverages taste horrible. But my migraines are under control.

I have a Ph.D. in molecular biology and a few years of neuroscience research under my belt. I would like to say that it is EXTREMELY important for people to understand that no medication is going to work identically for any two people. What works for one person, may not work for everyone. I know people who swear by imitrex but this medication does absolutely nothing for me. You have to be your own advocate when it comes to medications and treatments. Your genetics will also determine how well, if at all, you respond to any medication. For some topamax is a life saver, for others it will be the bane of their existence. This will always be the case for any medication. Be tolerant of others' experiences and understanding of each others' pain and progress will be made.

I was given topamax to treat headaches and cyclical mood disorder. I was not given any info about side effects or that, at the time(April of 2006), the drug was not FDA approved for treating mood disorders. I took about 3 25mg tablets a day for 6 weeks and started noticing pain in my chest, stomach, back, and neck, my heart felt irregular as well. Towards the end of the 6 weeks, I felt so bad that at times that I had to crawl to the bathroom at home because my body and heart felt so weak. I weighed 135 pounds before starting the drug and 117 after, lot of weight to lose for me in such a short period of time(my weight very rarely fluctuates at all). I started noticing that when I would eat a large meal, I would then be hungry with an empty stomach an hour later, and about 15-20 minutes after taking my 2nd pill for the day I would feel shooting chest pains and become slightly dizzy, I would take my third pill at home a couple before bed and the symptoms were even worse. I called the on-line nurse late at night a few times and they would say it was just anxiety, my friends and family that knew about all this would also say that I was just worrying too much. I decided to take matters in my own hands and started doing research on the drug. I found all the information I needed, that was not given to me, decided I was experiencing some of the specific side effects people had noticed. I finally decided on my own to stop taking the drug after my doctor told me that all this was because I wasn't taking a high enough dosage, I still can't believe that she said that!!

Now that I've had some time to look back and gather myself a little, I know that I also experienced side effects such as dizziness, loss of taste, decreased sex-drive, Loss of wittiness, feeling like being in slow-motion, slurring speech, heartbeat going from 64bpm sitting on the couch to 128bpm after walking to the bathroom to pea, difficulty breathing, basically felt like crap but was too drugged up to really notice.

It did stop my headaches and stabalized my mood but I think the improvements in mood were primarily due to the fact that I wasn't all there. DEFINETLY NOT WORTH ALL THE SIDE EFFECTS!!!

As soon as I stopped taking this, I felt much better in the head, noticing that I was probably running on about 70% for the past few weeks. Also gained back all the weight very quicky. I felt like myself again and was rejuvanized in my life!! Primarily all the side effects disappeared and I moved on with my life. Unfortunately the chest pains slowed down but did not disappear. I felt like, and still feel like, I had a broken Sternum. I went to the same clinic and had numerous tests done(EKG, blood tests, X-rays), everything came up clear. I have had to tell some of my friends, numerous times in the past year, not to restle with me or hug me too hard because it hurts.

I have not been taking any perscription drugs for the past 14 months because of all of this and now have recently started feeling increased pain in my chest(the chest pains never completely went away) . I do not have health insurance but am going to get this all checked out ASAP, I will post again once I find out what's going on.

I have been on 100 mg of topamax twice a day now for over three years. Most of the early side effects have worn off like soda tasting bad and the memory loss. I never had any hair loss. Also the weight loss has stopped and I did gain it back which really stinks. Anyway, the reason I was looking, was that in the last several weeks, I have been suffering horrible body aches and joint pain. My hands and knees hurt very badly. I am 39 years old and hate to think that arthritis has set in so quickly. And I know that I can't have the flu with no other symptoms and so often. Does anyone else have these symptoms? Also I wonder why these could have started after so many years of taking it.I have tried to wean myself off in the past and the migrains came back full force.

I have been on only 50mgs of Topamax for migraines and love what it has done for me. The only side effect that I have experienced that I do not see posted on here is that I get these purplish/red spots on my feet and bumps under the spots that have inceasingly gotten worse over the year that I have been on the drug. If anyone else has experienced this could you please notify me. ONe other has notified me with the same type of experience, and when she weaned herself off the topamax she got rid of the symptoms. Im in the process of weaning myself off, and the symptoms are slowly going away.....please let me know if you have experienced anything similiar!!!!

ALL, if you are taking TOPAMAX for migraines you need to read the article in last year's Science News where doctors have linked the migraines to a heart defect that is common in women and once corrected the migraines go away completely. Long term use of TOPAMAX may be detrimental to your health. I recently posted: My wife is experiencing massive hair loss. She had a metabolic panel ran on her to ensure it is not thyroid and is scheduled to see a specialist on hair loss next week. I just came off the National Institute of Health website at www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a697012.html where they list hair loss as one of the problems with the drug. They recommend that you see a physician immediately. My Wife's hair was literally coming out by the roots and since her hair is naturally thin it won't be long before she is bald unless she can get it stopped.

My 14 year old daughter was on Topamax for migraines for 7 months and when she went off, she lost considerable amounts of hair. I'm not noticing regrowth - and that scares me for her. She had such beautiful blonde hair and I'm concerned that this is going to get worse as opposed to better. Has anyone noticed regrowth???

I started using topamax for migraines on January 20 and have been feeling a little tired, some tingling in the fingers and a weird fluttering in the back of my head every once in a while. I am on 25 mg a day to start for the next 3 months and will work my way up from there. So far no migraines. Have been sleeping well, (I take it at night). I seem to have more muscle pains than normal. ie. Stiff shoulders and neck. Also, my appetite is not the same, don't have the same tatse for foods lately, just want to snack.

I am taking topamax for migraines I have been taking them for three days now. Everytime I take one about 3-4 hrs later the tips of my fingers tingle and my temples throb with pain
( Not unbareable just bothersome it almost feels like the beggining of a migriane but stays at that level of pain) until I fall alseep.

I'm taking Topamax for migraines. It helps with the headaches. I'm not getting as many per month. The worst thing about this medicine for me is that it makes me so sick to my stomach I often can't eat.
Summer

My son is 14 he was put on topamax for migraines. He has been on it for 2 months. I took him off today the side effedts are not worth it. He has had nausea, vomiting, diahrea, tingling hands and face, visual distortions and an overall feeling like he was losing his mind. He would get upset at the slightest thing. He developed a rash on his face. He also had times would he would be reduced to tears(if you have 14 yr old boy you know this is not normal) I took him off of the topamax yesterday I can only pray that he returns to normal soon. He has missed too much school already and this is only the 2nd week of schoo.

I have was prescribed topamax for migraines, I have MOST of the side effects. The one one that I HATE the most is the pine and needles feeling in the face!!

I started taking Topamax for migraines about 7 months ago, and it took a few months for it to really start working well. My sleeping patterns changed, I found that I was hyper all the time (which probably affected the sleep pattern!) and I had short term memory loss. I couldn't give street directions if my life depended on it! Everything is getting better now...I can sleep past 5am, I am learning to relax a little more, and the memory thing is getting better too when I don't get flustered. The biggest side effect is my loss of appetite, which is great (so far!) because I have lost 50 pounds over the last 7 months! Hope it slows down soon though, because I don't have much more to lose!

I just started taking Topamax for migraines. I'm still in the titration phase so I'm only taking 25 mg right now, but at the end of four weeks I'll be at 100mg daily. I'm extremely disappointed because I love carbonated water and it taste absolutely awful, even after less than one week of taking the meds. I'm also finding that my hands shake a little, almost like tremors. I'm not sure if that's related to the drug or not. For the time being, I'm extremely tired. I take my dose in the evenings with dinner and usually fall asleep on the sofa. In the morning, I can barely make myself move. However, I'm already finding a decrease in migraine aura which before was a very serious problem for me.

I just started taking Topamax for migraines and immediately had tingling in hands, feet, and face. Have any of you had the eye or vision problems that I have been reading about recently? They say it can cause myopia and loss of some vision. Just curious. I am looking forward to not having a migraine every day so I hope it works. I think I can definitely handle some tingling if it means not having migraines.

i was on topamax for migraines. I took it for 8 months . I had alot of side effects .Loss of taste tingling. numbness, sleepy all day long.crazy dreams depression. That is just a few and to top it off I lost my appetite and only lost 7 pounds. Thanks, Shellbug NC