Topamax / Weight Loss

  • I've got multiple sclerosis and have over 100 lbs to lose. My neurologist prescribed Topamax (the migrane medicine) because she said that she sees her patients losing weight from it - not lots - but a slow, steady weight loss from it.

    Now, I'd like to say that I have had resounding success with it but I have also had an MS flare-up that I had to go on steroids. So, needless to say, the steroids 'helped' me pack on some holiday pounds.

    Just wondered if any of you have heard of Topamax for weight loss?
  • i took topamax for migraines.. and many people do lose while taking it .. but i didnt

    metformin which is a drug used to treat diabetes however, does make u lose weight... and is prescribed by many drs for weight loss.. (even without the person having diabetes) becuz when a person is quite heavy they often have insulin issues.
  • my cousin took topamax for having seizers and she was a size 22 when she started. About less than a year she was down to a size 3 and ate just like she did before anything she wanted. That has been a few years ago and she is still thin. Her doctor told her she would lose a bunch of weight.
  • Topamax is notorious for suppressing your appetite. However it has a bunch of other side effects so unless you have another good reason to be on it--like migraines or seizures, I don't recommend taking it for the appetite suppressing effects alone.
  • I took topomax for severe fibromyalgia pain. I did lose some weight- but I ate a lot less. For me it didn't so much supress my appetite as make me not care that I was hungry all the time. I also became incredibly stupid. The drug has pretty severe frontal lobe effects. I couldn't string together a coherent sentence sometimes- the words started out fine in my head but came out of my mouth jumbled. I called them my verbal dyslexia days. I also developed such severe dry mouth that my gums and teeth have really suffered. My sense of taste changed- I lived with a rancid and metallic taste in my mouth almost all the time. It also causes muscle fatigue (I'm a personal trainer and body builder and this is NOT good!), inability to regulate body temperature, and general clumsiness.

    I would NEVER take this drug to lose weight! In total, I lost about 8 pounds, but I was already at goal and ate very stringently. The side effects weren't worth it, and some, like the dental problems, may be irreversible.

    It did help with my fibro pain and sleeplessness, though.

    Mel
  • I love topamax. I have been on it now for a few months for sleep/fibro issues (seems to work pretty well for the sleep). I probably have periodic limb movement disorder and given that I have nerve problems and fibro too, the doctor didn't think it would hurt, especially as I only take it at night. Because I only take it at night I didn't think that the weight loss issues would affect me. But I've lost 18 pounds on it so far. Before I got on the topamax my doctor had tried to increase my cymbalta (cymbalta worked really well for me) to see if the increase would help even more. It didn't help, but it did make me gain ten pounds that would not budge. Anyway, after I got on the topamax that weight finally just started to go away. While I still love all my favorite foods like ice cream, I don't crave them as much as I used to. And I am satisfied with a lot less, and my appetite has decreased. Before it felt like more of a compulsion to eat certain sweets. I'm surprised and pleased by my reaction.
  • I had never heard of it prescribed specifically for weight loss, but my PCP did tell me one of the side effects of Topamax was loss of appetite (no complaint there on my part--LOL!) when he prescribed it for me for my idiopathic seizure disorder to replace the 300 mg of Neurontin I had been taking for years before that. I take 25 mg of Topamax in the morning and 25 mg again at bedtime.
  • Once my dosage was regulated so that I wasn't walking into walls, topomax worked really well for fibro pain and sleep for about seven months before the severe dry mouth and dental problems started. The stupidity started about a month after I started taking it. I was taking 50 mg. only at bedtime, then decreased to 25 mg. to see if my salivary glands would start working again. Even having been off it for seven months, I still have dry mouth I'm not sure I'm much smarter, either

    Mel
  • I was on topamax for a number of years. Yes, I did lose weight. I had side effects, memory difficulties and I felt "slow" in thinking and speaking. I went off it and gained all the weight +. I lost about 20-35 pounds on it and now gained 40-45. I have thought about going back on it a few times and remembered the side effects and decided not to.
  • I took Topamax for weight loss but ended up gaining weight. My psyc said it was because I was also taking Metformin and the two collided together. I gained 15 pounds while taking it. As soon as I stopped the meds, the 15 pounds came off.
  • From what I've read, the weight loss effect is a once-only phenomena. If you go off it, and back on, you don't get the same effect.
  • They did study Topamax as a possible weight loss drug, but the risk outweighed the benefits and, if I remember correctly, the study was actually stopped before they had planned to. I'm on it for chronic occipital neuralgia & to help with one of my sleep disorders, but I'm only taking a small dose at this point. I can't say its done much for me because I'm on so many medications & have been making so many changes in my lifestyle. I do know that when they first started me on Topamax, I had to take even a smaller amount to start with then what my doctor wanted to avoid side effect. I was a major witch when I took 25mg per day to start, but once we backed it down to 12.5 & slowly went it, I was much better.

    Mel- Have you heard about using Xyrem (GHB) for Alpha Wave Intrusion (aka: Alpha-Delta Sleep) sleep disorders that is common with fibro? My sleep doctor has mentioned it to me as a possibility as I have extremely severe Alpha Wave Intrusion, thats probably caused by my chronic knee pain & occipital neuralgia. I know at one point, when GHB was more widely available, a lot of weight lifters used it because it also helps on the hormonal level with muscle repair & such. One thing my sleep doctor did mention is that it also makes losing weight easier because its in the deeper stages of sleep, Delta Sleep, that the body produces growth hormones.

    For now, you may want to look into the newest sleep med, Rozerem. It was created based on how melatonin works, though its not exactly the same or anything. I was one of the first people my sleep doctor tried on it & I've been pretty happy with it, considering the level of my sleep disorders. I am so glad to not need Ambien or Lunesta nightly any longer- they always felt like a drugged sleep, were Rozerem seems to help with improving natural sleep patterns- even to the point I can skip a couple nights without much of a problem. I do think any time you can improve the quality of sleep- especially the restorative stages- it is easier to lose weight. Some of it is chemical/hormonal, but some of it that when you're tired all the time its easy to grab something to eat to try to give yourself energy. Plus, if your sleep disorders are severe enough, it can be hard to exercise when you need to conserve every bit of energy you can for basic daily activities.