Topamax I Came Home, Migraines, I Am Drunk, Nothing Works, Place of Employment
Posted over a year ago
Hi Everyone,
I have been taking Topamax 25 mg for 1 week. I can't stand it. Today I am to up my dosage to 50 mg.I am not sure if I want to do that. The side effects suck.. I think I would rather just deal with my migraines, at least I know how to do that since I have had them for over 25 years. I have tried everything and nothing has worked so the Dr. and I thought we would give this a try.
I am trying to keep my place of employment happy with trying to cut down on the migraines but nothing works.
Most days I just want to give up.
Hopefully we will be able to figure something out. ... more »
Hi Everyone,
I have been taking Topamax 25 mg for 1 week. I can't stand it. Today I am to up my dosage to 50 mg.I am not sure if I want to do that. The side effects suck.. I think I would rather just deal with my migraines, at least I know how to do that since I have had them for over 25 years. I have tried everything and nothing has worked so the Dr. and I thought we would give this a try.
I am trying to keep my place of employment happy with trying to cut down on the migraines but nothing works.
Most days I just want to give up.
Hopefully we will be able to figure something out.
I can't stand the pickhands and feet, the stumbling like I am drunk( and I dont' drink) nothing tastes right anymore, I have the shakes and I ache.
And all it does is makes me sleepy and like I am in another world.
I went to work today and made it half an hour before I came home because I stumbled and almost fell over. And when the boss talked to me it was like I wasn't there. So I came home. I don't know but I don't like it at all.
Deppie101 - i know exactly how you feel, i was just started on topamax, and i'm hating it, i'm in constant clouds of dizziness, i try to walk and i often fall over; everything i do has to be very deliberate and planned, or i can't move, i don't feel like myself any more, and i want off, but my neuro won't let me; i hope it works for you, and i wish you the best of luck
Ljt123 - Hey everyone,i guess what id like to say is maybe you need to give it a try its not always the drug itself sometimes its the way our body handles a drug and this can go for even vitamins.try for 5 weeks you wont go blind in 5weeks.sometimes we suffer just a bit to get ahead i have had migraines for 30 years now sadly nothing has helped prevent them.immitrex helps them but not prevent them.topamax didnt work but i take 25mg at night to help sleep because most migraine suffers also cant sleep.as far as the weight loss thing it helps that only because the drug is also used for obsessive compulisive disorder.i wouldnt aim for the drug to be used for weight loss i would keep my focus on migraines.honestly im there too. Laura
Lilmamaxx00x - ive been 0n t0pamax 25 mg. f0r ab0ut 2 weeks n0w and ive been experiencing dizzyness and nausea ... it alm0st feels as if s0meb0dy is smushing my head with s0mething, it sucks! ... i was 0n t0pamax a year ag0 f0r my migraines, when i n0ticed the side effects i immediately st0pped taking it ... the neur0 then put me 0n amitryptlene which then i n0ticed the same side effects, s0 i st0pped takin th0se as well ... its been a year and i decided that i need t0 take charge and get rid 0f these migranes s0 im back 0n t0pamax unfortunately, i h0pe things get better.
Cindy0917 - I have been on Topamax for about 3 yrs. now. Really not sure how much it's helped the migraines. Maybe some what. Started on a low dosage lost some weight, then gained. Upped the dosage, per Doc. lost weight (yeah) again gained it and not happy. Any body else. Not that I'm taking it to loose weight but if it is supppose to have that side effect I sure could use the help. And after reading the other blogs, I'm relating to the slight depression, maybe total lack of interest in alot of things.....Never really put two and two together before. Also taking Frova along with the Topamax as needed and well I've needed it alot lately. Does any one think the weather is a factor?
Puddinsgrama - I started taking Topamax on July 14,2008 for migraines, and I must say I have gone from my daily head pounding to, 2 pounding' s in a month.
I have noticed a lot of joint pain and my hands an feet go numb and they fall asleep.
I seem to drop a lot of things even when my hands are not tinglingly,
I get real chatty and have racing thoughts, and depressive thinking and angry thoughts that I have to check my self before I open my mouth to speak .
I am still in the process of building up my dosage plan so I am hoping this will all pass.
Has anyone else experienced joint pain or hands and feet falling asleep during normal activity? Hay the weight loss thing would be a great to get, guess that one passed me by.
Karen_walker - hey guys ... i just started on topamax yesterday for my migraines and ive already started getting side affects :O .... all off to day i have had numbness and pins and neddles in my hands and feet ... like constently .. i really dont like that !! i do get pins and needles sometimes but not that last this long ... its horrible. my arms and legs ache and i feel sick !!! ive only had one tablet ha ha ??!!!! i have also tried eveything and nothing has worked so far, tripline bla bla ... so they thought they would give this ago ... im not sure after reading all these post and having these side affects after just having one tablet ha ha i wonder what its going to go like with more ??!!!! this sucks !
Guie - I used to have migraines every day since i can remember (I am 21), so i started taking topamax about a year ago due to my doctor advise. When i started, i had numbness in my hands and feet, and had a dramatic lose of weight, but my headaches were almost gone, it was the only thing that helped, i was really hopeful, so i said, ok let´s forget about losing weight and numbness, the doctor said it was normal and the symptoms would dissappear eventually, and that not everyone experiences the same. The numbness dissappeared. But like one of you said, mood was the most significant change with me, i also became kind of bipolar, it was like one minute i was so happy but the next i was so mad or crying; i told my dr. and said it was my way of being . Last january the dosage increased from 50 mg , to 100 mg per day and now i am really convinced i have serious depression, i don´t really feel like doing anything at all, i am always sad, i feel sleepy all day even when i sleep 8-10 hours at night, i have serious problems to concentrate at school, problems at remembering stuff, I fight with my family in a very angry way and then I cry, it´s really awful. It´s really not going so well for me, i talked to the dr. almost crying telling her all my symptoms..so i will stop taking topamax, i really hope that will help. So i if you see that you are having any rare symptom tell it to your doctor, and make it stop, it might get worse. But don´t stop taking topamax out of the blue, it has to be eventually, otherwise you will suffer migraines worse than before.
Really I get to a point where i prefer to get where i was before I started the treatment than feeling sad and depressed all the time.
Jfellow - My two cents here...I had a Kidney transplant 22 years ago and have lived with what we can call the transplant cocktail if you will. That is, a series of medications and a series of side effects and the reality that it is better to be alive than to be dead and to be without pain than in severe pain. My wife read about This drug so I asked my doc, and he prescribed it. I had migraines since I was a small child and like most of you it was really quite unpleasant. My wife had often told me she would have killed herself long ago if she had to deal with that kind of pain, I don't think she actually understood. So, the bottom line to me is with the pins and needles and with the sometime slurred speech or missed thought it is still better than crouching in the corner or throwing up over the toilet for hours on end. We always have the option to stop I suppose. I appreciate everyone's posts here as I was wondering about the pins and needles of the limbs falling asleep side effects to the drug as I have been experiencing that myself and had no idea where that was coming from so thanks everyone. God Bless and take care.
Kristin1 - hey im kristin i have the same problems and im only 20 years old i was on 25mg topamaz and i was getting tiggling in my feet then itold my docter and she made me upgrade to 50 mg a night so i listen and then one dai i relized i dont wanna spend my whole life taking these pills so i stoped taking them havent been to the docter since b.c i think if i tell the docter how iam feeling they might think im crazy but ever since i sstoped taking them i feel like im in another world and i forget that i was there or i forget things i struglle to think of something when i go to bed sometimes i cry i hate it i dont no whats rong what do i do?>
Cairn1980 - Hi Everyone. I was diagnosed with having migraines just this past May. I never knew migraines were an actual neurological condition. I just assumed they were super headaches. You see, I have Multiple Sclerosis. Pain is an everyday occurrence for me and so many MS sufferers, so when my left eye felt like someone was drilling behind it, hammering behind my skull, or the walls were spinning and I felt like throwing up everyday, everyone--including myself and my doctors--assumed my MS was progressing. To think you might end up in a wheel chair someday or lose function of your limbs is scary as hell. So, when my new neurologist informed me of my long undiagnosed condition, and how it wasn't my MS after all, I cried for joy. I know having migraines is nothing to cry for joy about, but to hear that my MS is not progressing and that those symptoms I had for so many years weren't because of it, was one of the happiest days of my life. I have been on Topomax since May now. I tried 75 mg a day and could not handle it, so I scaled down to 50. My face and hands tingled too much. I had even more difficulty walking. But today, I feel like a new woman. I don't have many migraines now. I know which foods not to eat so I don't trigger a migraine, I take my vitamins, I eat healthy, and exercise. I've learned to make adjustments in my life, but my quality of life is a lot better with Topomax in it. -- Amanda
Croleary - My name is Chris, I was diagnosed with having migraines around 10 or so years ago but was left untreated for them due to doctors either not understanding what a migraine really is or not wanting to deal with it. Well this past monday I finally went to see a doc because the amount of migraines I've been experiencing over the last year have become worse and worse to the point where I have one from about an hour after I wake up until I go to bed at night, and it's been impacting my job performance and my personal life. Well the doctor prescribed topamax for me at a 25mg dose and has me taking it just at night for the first week and next week I'll transition to 25mg during the day and 25mg at night. I have to say that even though I've only been on this for a couple of days now, the results have been amazing. I went into this drug knowing all the possible side-effects, and I don't mind having tingling sensations, drowsiness and dizziness if it means no more or fewer migraines. I am somewhat effected by the cognitive issues too with word recollection and slight memory loss, slowed speech, delayed reactions and what-not, but again, I'm fine with that. In fact I just took my nightly dose 25 minutes ago. I'm very excited that this drug exists and that something can be done because I've spent so many years under the impression that migraines were just something that I was going to have to deal with and would never be able to control. Though there appears to be chains with this medication, I feel more freedom than I have in ages.
Tanny_lou - Wow everyone seems to be on a really low dose! I was put on topiramate 3 and a half years ago and had to go to a dose of 150mg daily and at first I got really bad side effects but after about 6 months they did reduce, the only side effects that continued was that my thoughts kept getting confused so I sounded really stupid. i tried coming off it 6 months ago but my migraines came back after a week so I went back on it to 100mg and saw a neurologist and I have come off it AGAIN and so far so good, only 1-2 migraines a week and not very bad. I have been feeling REALLY REALLY sick and sometimes think i'm going to be sick and I feel dizzy too. Apparantly if the migraines come back badly i'll go back to propanolol although it didn't work first time. Guess only time will tell
Sallymay - Thought I would put my post on here. I started taking Topirimate some 4 years ago when I started having migraines daily and so severely that I could remember my childrens names, or drive, function, go to work etc. I have suffered with migraines from such a young age and would go for years without having one and then have them daily. I was referred to a neurologist who started me on this drug. I remember feeling spaced out and tingly on my hands and feet and after a week, we held off increasing my dose to 50mg as the tingling was so intense. I gradually built up to 150 mg over the next few months and in the summer barely had any side effects. I would notice when there was an increase as my head would feel spaced out and weird, almost as if there was a pressure there, and tingling on the inside. However, in the winter when it was cold my mouth would almost go into spasm, my eyes would twitch uncontrollably and the pins and needles would be so painful that I would sometimes cry. However, my migraines went from 2-3 a week so 2-3 a year and just became visual aura and feeling a little spaced out for an hour or so. This year when I went on holiday to Spain I noticed that my side effects were far outweighing the migraines and decided to wean myself off them which I did successfully. However my migraines have come back with a vengence these last few weeks cummilating in 1 every day over the Xmas period so Ive decided to go back on the topirimate. Foolishly I took a 25mg one twice a day to start off and I feel completely rubbish at the moment, so Im going to miss a day and re-start taking 25 mg at night for a week and build up. My head feels mushy and after having a run of 7 days with a migraine, the day I dont have one I feel just as rubbish because Ive taken my medication too quickly. I have to say the medication does have side effects, but they do wear off and mine are always exacerbated by alcohol and to be honest, my migraines are more than likely caused by my lifestyle at this present moment in time. I am using this medication to build up my tolerence level again and to change my lifestyle as I think my body is giving my warning signs to get more healthy, and sometimes I think our migraines are a way of telling us to stop eating and drinking the rubbish stuff!!! Good luck guys with the topirimate and like me..... try to stick it out
Jfellow - To all - Since my last post my doc increased to 100 mg per day as the migraines had returned with a vengeance. I still only experience issues in my feet where they feel as if they have fallen asleep. Quite bad actually but only every few days to once a week or so. You know, the pins and needles people have spoken of. So I wanted to mention that though this is the dose I take this is also the only side effect I experience. Because of the organ transplant it may be noteworthy to mention that I do not drink alcohol and try to keep sugars and things of that nature down to a minimum. I am not sure how this medication responds to those chemicals but it may not respond well. It would be great if the pins and needles would go away as it really is rather lame but I will put up with it. It seems if I get up and run around I can get it to go away in about three minutes or so. I hope all of you stay well and take care and this helps in some small way.
Tanny_lou - hi, thought I'd update again. I have now been off topiramate for almost 6 months and yes I get about 1 migraine a week but it's still a lot better than originally. The best part though is that my mind feels amazingly better - I can talk aand think properly and I actually feel like my personality is back, I didn't realise how withdrawn and shy I had become the last few years but off it now I'm starting to think like I used to it's fantastic. Would rather have a few migraines than loose myself again
Benji - Brenda, I am on 400mg of topiramate. My side effects are awful, I can hardly see, I have become suicidal and the numbness in my arms and soreness is driving me crazy. I don't know what to do anymore and my dr. Is of no help whatsoever. My headaches are still with me but not as bad but the lack of muscle control because my arms are so sore are just too much for me to handle...
Kerryt - I so pleased I've found others that are feeling the same. I feel sick constantly, tired, my head feels like its gonna explode, my eyes hurt & I feel like I'm missing out on life. My neurologist doesn't seem to understand half the stuff I'm telling her (language barrier) so I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall trying to explain my symptoms to her.
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