TOPAMAX Reviews (TOPIRAMATE)Average Rating: 3.0 (1824 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare TOPAMAX with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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More on TOPAMAX: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR TOPAMAX | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 4 | Chronic Migraines | Tingling in fingers, mood swings, forget some words (not too bad), spaced out feeling, lack of motivation, weight loss. | Had migraines all day every day, complete with debilitating nausea, for 3 years. Was put on low dose of topamax (25mg) and reacted badly: after three days, I spent one day completely spaced out, not really sure what was going on, awful mood swings. The doctor lowered the dose by half and I was fine. The spaciness was gone, and all the other side effects went away after the first couple of weeks. After two months I was starting to get migranes at night, so he upped it back to 25mg, but this time with half taken in the morning and half at night. As long as I take it EXACTLY 12 hours apart, I just have some finger tingling, weight loss, forgetting a few words (not too bad, and I'm a writer), and a general lack of motivation / lethargy (which is annoying). But, I'm expecting that to go away in a few weeks like it did last time. I can actually go to work all day and work out at the gym and live a life without horrible migraines and nausea, so these side effects are really nothing compared to what I was living with before. I really do have to be careful about the timing of the medicine, though, because one day I took one dose a couple hours late, and the next day I was unusually aggressive until the combo dose wore off -- or at least that's what I kinda remember, because that whole day is a little fuzzy. This is definitely a strong drug and direction have to be followed exactly. | F | 28 | 3 months | 11/21/2009 | 2 | MIgraines | Initially nausea, loss of appetite; Then: excessive weight loss, exhaustion, cloudy thinking, poor coordination; and most recently: Paranoia, hallucinations, aggressive behavior, angry outbursts, placed in mental health facility. | I am married to the man who took this medication. From my perspective: The past month has just been hell on the whole family. When my husband began hearing and seeing things that were not there I feared it was another medication, the fentenal patch, because he had been taking topomax for some time. His symptoms got worse quickly. He was not eating, sleeping, became angry at times and at other times was a sweet-heart. He would be hot, then cold and shiver. He became paranoid, thinking people were coming to hurt us. He even called the police telling them there were several men sneaking around the yard (we live out in the country)swearing he could here them talking on walky-talkies. The mood swings were terrible- everyone was walking on egg shells not knowing what to expect next. It got to the point where he was shoving one of our kids out of the way to "get" whatever he thought he saw. He also became physically combative with me when I tried to stop him from going after "them". I finally had to trick him into going to a hospital where they sent him to a "mental facility." Once there he was immediately sent up to ICU, for 3 days, as directed by the psychologist. He weighed in at 125 pounds-well below normal weight for a man that is 5'11". During his stay at the hospital, he was taken off both fentenal patch and Topamax. After returning home he began taking the Topamax again and within two days he started talking to people that aren't | M | 35 | 1 years | 11/21/2009 | 2 | fibro pain | turned into a moron. Really. Can't think straight. Can't talk right. Movement takes thought, like bringing a spoon to my mouth I have to think about first. Really REALLY tired. Basically I feel fall down drunk. I'm also getting dizzy and tinges in my face and fingers, but I can deal with that. | Only taking it 2 days so far, but I'm worried I'm going to lose my job if I don't stop taking it. I can't work! It's too much with the memory and not being able to think. | F | 32 | 2 days | 11/20/2009 | 1 | bipolar 2 | Worsened my depression considerably. Increased irritability, angry outbursts, negative obsessive thoughts. | It took less than 2 weeks for my symptoms to get really awful. I tried to stick it out for 2 more, and only made it 1 before I threw the bottle away. | F | 32 | 3 weeks | 11/19/2009 | 5 | Chronic Daily Headaches | Weight Loss, limb tingling, loss of short term memory, felt stupid, "phantom bladder infections", achy legs | Topamax worked great for my daily headaches 100mg a day, I lost 20 pounds which was also great! BUT the side effects made me give it up. I could handle the tingling and the aching. But the stupidiness was unbeleivable, I would forget the simpilest things and at the worst time. And then the phantom bladder infections started after 3 months, symptoms would last 2 - 3 days and then go away, this would happen 2 -3 times a month. This was the final straw for me even though my doctor could not say it was because of the topamax, I knew it was. Sure enough I weaned off the topamax and have not had a "bladder" infection since.It has been 8 months. | F | 44 | 6 months | 11/18/2009 | 1 | Update from my 9/30/2009 post | Update from 9/30/2009 post about my daughter. | When I posted on 9/30/2009 my daughter was being weaned from Topamax- she has been completely off of it for three weeks now.What a difference!! It took 6 days at 1/2 the dose for us to begin to see a change from there it continued to get better and better. Her happy fun personality is back. You can reason with her. She is not a stressed out mess.She is not quick to anger. She is starting to have some realization of how she behaved while on Topamax- and that weighs extremely heavy on her mind and heart. I daily berate my self for not contacting professional help earlier. I look forward to the day when I turn on the TV and this poision has been removed from the market. If you take any thing away from this, let it be this; research any and all medications your family and friends are prescribed- research before they take it and research everytime a prescription is filled. The good news is it was finally figured out she is off of Topamax and she is moving on with her life......her husband well thank goodness he stuck around too! | F | 41 | 3 years | 11/15/2009 | 5 | Seizures | Cognitive Effects | I don't have seizures, but if I miss a couple doses, I will have seizures. So, I have to make sure I take it as prescribed. The cognitive effects don't seem as bad anymore, or maybe I'm just used to them...I have been taking it for a long time. That's kind of scary, though, if I'm just used to the cognitive effects. I haven't had a migraine for a long time and I noticed that this medication is used for migraine prevention. That might explain my lack of migraines, which means it's effective (for me at least) in preventing migraines. That's a nice plus. | F | 37 | 8 years | 11/8/2009 | 1 | sciatica/nerve pain | i was on this drug for about 6 mos.I lost word finding skills,was so dizzy I walked with a cane,or was helped by my children.I lost 30lbs,still have hair loss! I have been off it for a month and a half,and still have difficulty finding words,and some dizziness remains.While on it,I couldn't eat..would gag or throw up when I tried!My blood pressure dropped very low also,and I had eye pain and vision problems.I am seeing a retina specialist this month,I pray it didn't do any permanent damage.My Dr. only told me about the weight loss..NO other s/e's! I think this drug should be taken off the market! I now see why others call it dopomax! I was stupid all the time I was taking it!It leaves you in a fog...Thank God I'm now off it! I no longer see the neuro that prescribed it,it was my family Dr. that caught it!My advice to any who think of taking it...RESEARCH IT FIRST! | It may be good for some...but do your research! | F | 66 | 6 months | 11/8/2009 | 5 | Migraines | Tingling, Weight loss, Memory loss, Fatigue, Slurred speech, Hair loss | I started Topapax 6 weeks ago after I was taking Imitrex almost daily and experiencing rebound migraines. I started at 25 mg. and moved up to 100 mg. over 4 weeks. Immediately I noticed my appetite was gone and I was in a fog. My weight dropped 7lbs. in a week which was a good thing. I'm a Director for a major corporation so I researched the side effects for a few months prior to taking the medicine on the advice from my neurologist. The fact was either I was going to miss work for migraines or deal with short term side effects and not suffer from the migraines. The hair loss was short term, over the first four weeks and it seemed to stop.At the six week point my appetite is back more, not completely but I do get hungry more than I did initially. I am still losing weight, my fatigue is gone and my memory is completely back to normal. My doctor told me there is a "hump" to get over with the side effects and I feel great. I had one migraine in the past six weeks when I went from 75 mg up to 100mg and one Excedrin migraine took care of it. I assumed it was a side effect of moving up in milligrams. Normally I would have 3 per week without Topamax. Good luck to everyone and stick with it.I plan on continuing with the Topamax, I can't take the pain of having migraines multiple times per week and Imitrex would spike my blood pressure which is normally low. Scary. | F | 30 | 6 weeks | 11/7/2009 | 1 | daily migraines | weight loss, memory loss, mood swings, agitation, insomnia, "moving" lights | I was put on topomax when i was a sophmore in high school and was on it only for a few months before my neurologist decided to try a different medication. during this time i lost my appetite and lost weight, and i already only weighed about 95 lbs. my memory loss was so bad that i couldnt remember the simplest things, making every day frustrating and making school nearly impossible to do well in. my mood swings and easily agitated personality caused my friendships to struggle, as they thought that i was using the medicine as an excuse to get out of things if i said that i couldnt/didnt remember about it. i had problems sleeping every night and often didnt get to sleep until 2-4am, had problems staying asleep, then had to get up at 6am to get ready for school all over again. i stopped opening my eyes at night due to the swirling lights that i saw whenever i looked at a window that had a light on inside, a stop light, a street light, a reflection of some sort of light on something... they lights felt like i was hallucinating and they caused dizziness. i am now a freshman in college and i'm still having memory problems, from what i believe is a long term side effect of the topamax. in addition to all of this, the topamax only slightly helped my migraines. | F | 18 | 7 months | 11/4/2009 | 5 | Hormonal Migraines | Tingling (Potassium Fluctuation), "Topamax Moments" (knowing I want to say a word, but not being able to pull it out of the file of my brain), and at higher levels - trails of light periodically along with a loss of appetite. | This medicine works. It's been a God-send for me in terms of controlling the length of time my body will entertain a migraine, along with the severity. I have been using it for over five years. Each person is different and each drug has side effects. What I can say, is I've been at 400 Mg and 50 Mg - back and forth - and 100Mg seems to be the perfect place for me. I can keep my appetite. When I'm having a "Topamax Moment", and muddle a word - I know why and I openly share it with whomever I'm amusing. It sure beats four days of not being able to converse at all. If you are coming here looking to see if you should give this drug a shot, I personally recommend having a heart to heart with your MD about it. The way I see it is - if you take this daily and allow yourself a good 14 weeks to let it settle in, you may be able to get on with your life in a way that's not possible when you are migraining. | F | 33 | 5 years | 11/3/2009 | 4 | Migraines | Nausea, acne, prolonged mentrual cycle, tingling sometimes in my fingers, cannot taste carbonated drinks, some taste flat while others taste tangy, in the beginning i definitely had the metallic taste in my mouth but that went away pretty quickly, hair loss, memory loss, floaty/spacey feeling, very irritable. | i have to say, this drug really has grown on me, only because i went from 3 to 4 migraines a week to about 1 every 2 weeks now. the doctors goal was to bring them down to about 1 or 2 a month hopefully less. i started out at 50mg, in the beginning it really messed up my menstrual cycle it was like i constantly had my period for at least a month and a half. ive been extremely irritable and moody, which you definitely need to watch out for because it really comes and goes but it can be pretty intense. in the beginning i had the metallic taste in my mouth bad that went away pretty quickly, and over the first few weeks was really hard because thats when you are starting to get used to the spacey feeling. it can be extremely frustrating, especially depending on what you do for a living, it can be a nuissance. the main thing that has really been hard for me but ive been trying hard to deal with is the nausea. most days are ok but for the most part i constantly feel sick to my stomach and its really hard for me to eat, or i forget to eat just because i feel sick. i guess id rather feel this way instead of the excruciating migraines but its a give or take relationship with the topamax. obviously this s/e is what is leading to the weight loss for me. started out at 150, im down to 134 after 2 mos and its mainly bc i cant eat w/o feeling sick to my stomach, i never vomit, though. the other thing is the hair loss, i can deal bc i had a lot of hair but it really does start to | F | 25 | 3 months | 11/3/2009 | 2 | Migraines | full body numbness, tingling in hands/feet, light sensitivity, loss of appetite, ringing in ears, moodiness, memory loss, feeling like an idiot all the time | 50 mg. It's probably not directly responsible for the moodiness; that may merely be a result of feeling like an idiot all the time, which is caused by the memory loss. I struggle to remember the most basic words, dropping off in the middle of a conversation and sounding like a complete moron when I can't remember my own phone number. There are random days when I almost feel like I'm stoned, really out of it and completely confused by everything. I can no longer drive/open my eyes at night, as the contrast of bright lights with darkness completely blinds me; there also seem to be rippling lines coming off lights, completely blurring my vision. I weigh 100 pounds at 5'7", no longer require numbing medication at the dentist, and can barely hear conversations over the ringing in my ears. Drinking alcohol makes all of this ten times worse... and to top it off, my head still hurts. Thanks, topamax. | F | 17 | 6 months | 11/1/2009 | 4 | Migraines | Weight Loss, Slight memory loss, especially in terms of vocabulary, Mood swings | I was suffering from multiple daily migraines, and was prescribed this by a neurologist, as well as imitrex. After the first couple of weeks I immediately noticed the memory loss as well as the weight loss, though that was a small price to pay for living a pain free life. The pain was beyond description, so it comes down to how bad you want relief. Im very grateful to have been prescribed this, even if I do sound rather uneducated at times when I blank out during a conversation. Another thing i noticed was the first couple of weeks i started taking this, I would have mood swings where i would be depressed for no reason. I know it was a side effect of the medication because im not an emotional person, and its unlike me to be depressed like that. It went away though. Good luck. | M | 24 | 6 months | 10/26/2009 | 3 | daily chronic migraines | vision is messed up, brain is scrambled, i weigh 110 lbs,eye twitches,still have migraines although not "as bad".words are hard to find,feet tingle(thats SOOOO annoying!!!)i think maybe i should carry a picture book with me so when i forget things i have pix(it can be funny at times..you really have to laugh at yourself). | I started taking this about 8 or 9 years ago at the time when they were just starting to discover that it worked for migraines(before they used it as a fad diet pill). I went from 100 mg to what i am now at 400mg a day.I would have thought that i wouldn't be getting any side effects now having been on it for so long, but in reading everyones comments here i can see that maybe that is not true! For the last 1 1/2 yrs, my left eye has been twitching and i could never figure out why(dr blew it off). I have had migraines ever since i was 9 after my bike and i had a run in with the back end of a sports car head first.I still eat imitrex to help "tone' it down.It kept the migs at a point i could tolerate and when they were past that the imitrex took over. Would i rec? Prob not. | F | 49 | 9 years | 10/23/2009 | 5 | Seizures | I have been on this medication for so long now I barely notice the side effects anymore. The main side effects I had were not being able to come up with words I was thinking of and being distracted. I've gotten used to that by now though. I switched from Depakote to Topamax and lost about 50 lbs in a very short amount of time. I had gained a lot from Depakote,but foods def taste different on topamax. | I am very happy with this medication. I have been seizure free for almost 10 years and will continue on this until my dr feels ok taking me off. | F | 27 | 8 years | 10/21/2009 | 4 | Daily Migraine Headaches | So far,not many side effects, starting out very slowly. I am up to 50mgs and have experienced tingling in feet at night. Noticed a little bit of agitation when I first increased, so I went back down for a couple more days. This helped. I think increasing slowly is key!! | I have already noticed a decrease in the intensity of my headaches. It is odd, I will get that first initial stab of pain and then all of sudden it lessens when before it would be time for bed. I am holding out hope for this drug. After reading all of these poor reviews, I did not want to go on it, I fought it, but I also know after trying almost everything else, I had no choice. If your headaches are controlling your life like mine are, sometimes you have no choice. If already I am seeing a difference on 50 mgs I am hopefull I will not have to increase too much. I will post again after more time. Everyone is different. You may handle this medicine just fine and you may not. | F | 36 | 4 weeks | 10/9/2009 | 1 | Mood stabilizer/depression | metallic taste. I felt like a zombie and was totally disassociated from the world. I was on it for 2 years which are actually lost to me because I can't really remember them. | It did help stabilize my mood if being a zombie and being totally unaffected by anything is what you are going for as a result of a prescribed medication. The withdrawal symptoms when I quit taking it were unbelievable I felt like a heroin addict. Sweating, shaking, dizziness. I could have curled up into a ball and died. | F | 40 | 2 years | 10/8/2009 | 3 | Migraines | I was on Topamax on and off for a span of ten years. In the last bout of it, I noticed that I was losing my short term memory. I couldn't remember to do the simple daily things in life, i.e. shutting off my car before I got out.. losing my keys, ect. Since then, I have been prescribed ZONEGRAN in place of Topamax. It has been a life saver. There have been NO side effects whatsoever. | While Topamax did the job- there was a price to pay. Extreme tingling in the arms and legs, memory loss, slurring of the words, terrible word retrieval. | F | 24 | 10 years | 10/7/2009 | 1 | Chronic daily migraine | Extreme insomnia, lack of appetite despite intense hunger, some manic symptoms, increased sex drive. | I could not wait to get off of this drug. It ruined my sleep, which was good before (while taking Depakote). I have been off it for two weeks but still need sleeping pills to sleep even 5 hours (even after switching to taking it during the day). I lost 5 lbs., but only weighed 100 to begin with. It only helped somewhat for headaches. I was up to 75 mg., went down to 50 but had same symptoms. My pharmacist said it has a five-day half-life, so give yourself time when you quit. It will still be in your system for a week or two. | F | 56 | 2 months | 10/5/2009 |