Topamax...

I've never tried that one I don't think. I'm on a generic form of imitrex, and it works to get rid of a migraine 95% of the time. I'd like to know how it goes with you though

I took it for a month and a half. I became irritable, lost my sense of taste, and just felt crappy while taking it, so I stopped.

I took it for several years for anxiety. They say that people on Topamax tend to lose weight , didn't happen to me! The thing I hated about topamax is that when it was starting to kick in or starting to wear out my feet & hands would tingle. Kinda like that feeling you get when they fall asleep, yep like that. My feet used to also feel like they lit a match on them, and no my feet never sweat. And a funny thing that would happen, is that when I would rub or scratch my nose, it felt like I had fuz on my nail and would tickle my nose. But there was nothing!!! LOL Any neurological medication can & will weaken your teeth, you will be prone to cavities. How do I know this? Well because I started getting more cavities. Reason being, your saliva glands don't produce the adequate amount of saliva. Both neurologist & dentist told me this after I asked them.

It never really seemed to help my anxiety, I'm on clonazapam for that & it helps a little. But the thing I liked about Topamax is that it would keep me away from drinking sodas, lol. Because they would all taste flat & just plain ol' ewwww!!!

I have tried just about everything available for migraines, including Topamax. Topamax didn't work for me.

Treximet - now that is a miracle if you ask me! It's a hybrid of Imitrex and something else that I don't' remember. Weirdly, I cannot take Imitrex in any form.

I swear by Treximet and have turned a few fellow migraine sufferers on to it. It doesn't make me sick or drowsy in anyway and it's super fast acting. Oh - and it's non-narcotic!

Good luck - I hope you find some relief soon!

Hi,

I was on it for awhile, and the most noticable side affect I had was that my fingers felt "tingley" ... almost like my hands had fallen asleep. It was really strange and never went away.

From what I've heard, this is a 'normal' sideaffect, however.

I took it when I was 17 till I was about 21. I didn't have any problems with it but I was on it as a mood stablizer for my bipolar disorder. The biggest thing is that it can cause some weight gain so you just have to be careful with it.

Actually Topamax causes weight LOSS not gain. i have been on it since April of this year for migraines as well. I take 100mg at night.

There is a large amount of info available on the internet about this very topic, where people have lost MASSIVE amounts of weight on topamax. However, as with ANY prescription that has weight loss directly caused by or related to it, if you do not modify your eating habits and lifestyle, as soon as you stop taking the meds, you will almost certainly experience rapid weight GAIN.

(I have lost 62# since April 2012.) But I also have changed the way I view food COMPLETELY. I work in a physically active career field and on my two days off, I am up and jogging for an hour both days. It has been a total transformation for me, because I need this to be a LASTING one.

The Topamax has been a help, because I am no longer having headaches which give me a reason to stay in bed or "feel bad" on a consistent basis. (By the way, I think the fact that I am no longer putting garbage into my body is also a HUGE help in the migraines being gone, as I also no longer suffer from indigestion, or other health problems.) I am taking FULL advantage of the opportunity this prescription has given me, but I do NOT take it for granted. I am doing the work for myself. There are no free rides in this journey.

God Bless!!!! :flowerforyou:

I've never taken it, but a good friend of mine has been on it for about a year. She says it helps with her migrains and she's lost about 60 lbs. But, it's a med, so it effects everybody differently. Just listen to what your body is telling you.

my doctor gave it to my a while back. but he was using it to help treat my anxiety. i didn't like it. i felt like it messed with my mind and made me feel worse. but every one is different and reacts to medications differently.

I take Topomax, but I take it for epileptic seizure prevention. I take 100mg twice a day along with 3 other seizure meds to control ONE KIND of seizure. I've been on it for almost 2 years now, and I have my moments when I just can't get any control of them, and I'll have times when I'll go a week or longer with the mix and not have a problem. I was a little leery of taking it the first time I was offered, but you can't take the safe route all the time, right? Any case, it helps me out well and I don't have to worry as much as I used to when it comes to seizures thanks to the addition of the Topomax to my batch of pills. Good luck to the rest of you with your Topomax endeavors!!! :flowerforyou:

Keep an eye on it. One of the side affects can be weight gain. If you start gaining weight, contact the doctor. It can happen pretty fast from what I remember.

I do know that Magnesium is supposed to be really good for helping with migraines. Any of you taking Magnesium?

Weight gain is not a side effect of Topamax. Weight loss can be. They have studied it as a stand-alone weight loss drug, and they've found that those who have the weight loss side effect can lose (I believe) up to 10% of their body weight as a side effect. Not everyone gets that side effect.

I've taken Topamax for over 8 years both for migraines and bipolar disorder. So-so on the migraines, great for the bipolar. As everyone else says, the tingling is a big side effect, but making sure you stay hydrated helps a lot. Make sure not to overheat, since that can be a problem with the medication. Hydrate, hydrate. I had word-finding difficulties in the beginning pretty bad, but that went away and I rarely have that problem now. When I first started taking it, I would also wake up very confused. No problems with that now. Foods tasting "off" or rotten has been a problem with me on Topamax occasionally, particularly some sauces or hamburger.

It can be a quirky drug, and I've noticed if my insurance company (three month mail-away prescriptions) has changed the brand of generic it sends, I may have more side effects until I adjust to that particular generic brand.

Just as a side note.... you know what rocks for my migraines? Botox. That's the bomb diggity. It took me from at least weekly migraines to one every two to three months.

AGREED!!!!

I did see a lot of stuff out there about it causing weird taste issues. Either way, look up Magnesium or ask your migraine doctor about it. I bet they will know as it's supposed to help.

Here's one website that talks about it. I take the upper amount of 500 mg.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/migraine-headache-000072.htm

You have to scroll down to treatment approach supplements.

I just dug out my families Physicians Desk Reference (it's the bible of all medications and I'm luck enough to have easy access to this insanely expensive manual). You're right about the memory effect. I found it in the adverse reactions section. It has some other reactions like insomnolence (sleeplessness) and under the psychiatric column it said there were adverse reactions of anorexia (numbers were pretty high which I thought was weird - sorta like 1/5th of the population of the study). Weird. I finally found what I was looking regarding the weight gain. It was a secondary add on study on teens and youngsters and they did have an incidence involving weight gain. It was something like one out of 100 or so so it was very, very low. It's rare basically. They didn't find that in the adult study. Interestingly, it's not officially approved for migraines; but, the results/side effects of the studies noted it helped in this area which is why the doctors are using it. That's not unusual though as doctors usually look at studies and if there's a potential side benefit - they tend to use it so it's like an ongoing study using the general population. By the way, the section on this medication was HUGE which I'm guessing is why I couldn't find everything on the internet. It was neat to read about it though.

My 7 year old is on it for her migraines......what the hell is wrong with it?!?!?! :frown:

I've been using it for years..... No side effects and works great for me.