topiramate

Even Wikipedia has more info on side effects than the link above
RxList has a good list of Topamax side effects. The first section relates to epilepsy. The section relating to migraine starts about two thirds down the page.

Apparently the side effects diminish for most people once the dose has been stabilized. It wasn't so in my case and I had to be weaned off them over a period of a month or so.

Ok, thanks for that. I'm really only in the early stages of treatment with it.

I started taking it and immediately started feeling a wee bit better, fewer headaches, on 20mg. When I increased to just 25mg I started crying all the time and wanted to sleep but became insomniac (being a fragile sleeper at the best of times this didn't help), and the migraines came back. I was meant to increase my dose again after a fortnight but went back to my GP and told her about the side effects and she agreed that I shouldn't increase it straight away. The crying eventually stopped by I've gradually been getting sleepier and sleepier. On Wednesday night I was utterly exhausted for no reason and noticed some palpitations and thought nothing much of it. But then I increased my dose to 50mg (25mg 2x daily) as advised, and the palpitations went through the roof. I was rehearsing with my band last night and I was mostly not "in the room".

And today I have a headache to add to it. Phonophobia and photophobia are telling me I might have to take a zomig spray. I did, however, manage to sleep without a sleeping aid last night, though the cat decided it was getting up time about two hours before me! Furry little swine.

Thanks for the info. Sorry, not very clear, or coherent, I'm sure you understand!

And for my next side effect...


Bleeding gums and toothache! I thought it was just normal toothache, then realised it wasn't long since I'd been to the dentist and got a clean bill of oral health. Looked up topiramate and there we go again.

WHY DOES NOTHING EVER GO SMOOTHLY FOR ME?

At least I slept last night and am getting used to the palpitations now.

Hang in there poppet - of all the drugs we are given to try this seems to be the one which most people have side effects with - if I remember you see the doc next week? I would suggest writing all these side effects down and going through them with him (you may forget one if they are not wrote down - I know I do) and then see what he says - as a full medical history is needed to make a judgement on this one ...

But rest assured you are not - I had a very rough time on this one..... but I do know people who have had some really good results on it - everyone is so different.......

xx

Oh I know. I just want something to bloody well work for a change!

Right, that's them jotted down, I'm going to bed. With my sore mouth.

I think I've tried everything available here and either they didn't work, or the side effects were worse that the symptoms the treatment was for

Currently all I take is Caffergot - up to 6 tablets per attack and a maximum of 10 per week. I've found if I get to 8 tablets per week, I get rebound headaches. They work only about 50% of the time even when taken early in the aura phase. As I usually don't recognise the early symptoms, I rely on others telling me that I'm about to get a migraine, so I frequently miss the window of opportunity available to me for aborting an attack.

Hi, did anyone have any problems with pain behind the eyes when taking Topiramate?

Lauren

Hi there,
after being on Beta Blockers and Pixtofien for quite some time i have now been moved to Topiramate, and it seems to be working so far, i am getting used to the odd tinggle in my fingers (happens for a few minutes a day) but am now having more days without any type of head ache and since starting the meds 2 weeks ago i have only had one attack so far which is brilliant and was only the ice pick to the brain migraine for about 30 mins, but i am hapy and feel that they are working looking good so far, am off to migraine clinic (finally!!) in December so will speak to specialist then about what doseage i shoulde be on and when it is best to take it etc. i am currently on 50mg a day and as i have 25mg tabs i am taking 25mg in the am and 25mg at night.

Hi guys,
I was wondering how quickly people lost weight with this as i am loosing about a kilo a week at the moment, and was wondering if this was normal, i am overweight so will have quite a while to go until i become worried that i have lost too much weight. also should i be having my weight monitored by my GP?

Hi...........I haven't seen it mentioned here but the generic Topirimate doesn't seem to work for migraine in some people. I am on Topomax, excellent, works a treat and the only side effect is some numbness/tingling in my fingertips, that is very acceptable. However, when they tried me on the generic equivalent the daily migraine attacks came back, and I tried not to blame the tablets, but when I traced the timescale back to when I began the generics, plus a few days, thats when the pain started and just got worse.

So I returned to the GP and explained what was happening and it appears that some people on the generics don't react favourably and so can only take the Topomax for relief. I've found that it keeps me functioning and able to deal with the worst of the attacks I still get, maybe 2 a month, or more often when there is a lot of earthquake and sunspot activity.