Has anyone been on Topamax. My doctor is thinking of adding it. I already take Wellbutrin and Celexa. I was also on olanzipine but I started gaining an amazing amount of weight so I went of of it a few weeks ago. Thanks.

Hi there,

I was on Topamax and had a really bad experience. At first it was great because I was losing weight. However, I became quite depressed. Also the nickname for the drug is "Dope a Max" and I understand why. It makes you cognitively blurred.

I took it for a few months and couldn't tolerate the side effects. The diminished mental capacity and constant tingling in my extremities were worse than the symtoms it was being used to treat.

My son was on this when he was younger. His weight dropped dramatically...and he wasn't an over weight kid to start out with. He was 11 years old 5 feet tall and got down to 69 pounds...he looked like a walking skeleton. When they took him off topamax he gained weight in record time!! He went from 69 pounds in May up to 155 pounds in September.

However that wasn't the worse side effect. It made him suicidal. I am not telling you NOT to take it...but discuss all side effects with your doctor. Be aware of ALL possible side effects and MAKE SURE there are people close to you (preferably LIVING WITH you) that know you are on this drug and know possible side effects to help monitor you.

I am currently on Topamax 100mg twice a day, and I also take Wellbutrin XL. So far, I haven't seen the dramatic weight loss. I keep looking for it! *lol* Haven't really experienced any of the other side effects of Topamax, except for a tingle in my feet every once in a while and I will forget a word every now & again. Nothing major. I am basically taking it for a migraine preventive. Trust me, these side effects are no where near as bad as 2-3 migraines with severe nausea per week.

Hope this helps ya!

I couldn't tolerate it it did the dope thing to me really bad I couldn't function. And it makes diet soda taste horrible which is probably a good thing.

Hubby takes topamax for his bipolar disorder. It helped him loose a little weight at first. He never got the bad taste from softdrinks you hear about. He is on 300mg a day and i cant tell its really helping anymore. He is in a mixed state right now. It does affect his thought process...he has alot of word recall issues.
debi

There have been a few threads on topomax experiences. Here's one from last year.

Update on me: After taking it for just over 2 1/2 years, I finally couldn't stand the neurological effects and the intense dry mouth. I felt stupid, it was increasingly difficult to put words in the right order, and basic arithmetic seemed slightly beyond my grasp. Although I wasn't suicidal, I did have bizarre thoughts which would have produced bodily injury if I'd carried them out. I really had no intention of hurting myself, but I'd wonder about really stupid actions: would my car float if I drive off the bridge? Would my truck bounce if I drove off the railroad overpass and hit the train going beneath me? I've had a stellar driving record over the last 30 some years, but did have 3 minor fender benders while taking topomax.

I've been off it for about 2 years now and everything is reversed except the damage to my salivary glands. It's better, but not back to normal. The neurologic effects stopped quickly, within 2-3 weeks of stopping the drug.

The weight loss effect is a one shot deal: if you stop the drug and go back on, it doesn't seem to do the same thing. It didn't depress my appetite (I was on a very low dose), but it made me not care so much that I was hungry. When I went off the drug for a while and then back on, it didn't have that effect on me

Mel

well i take it as a migraine preventative and i take 125 mg. the side effects i have are some tingling in extremeties and fried foods taste funky (that's a good thing though). i have not experienced any weight loss that ALL my friends told me i would have, but i have noticed in the last week or so that i don't seem to care if i eat or not. i usually don't eat all of my lunch or dinner and i quit eating snacks. i also take paxil for depression and anxiety and the two have not seemed to clash.

The dr put me on topomax a couple of years ago, it seemed to work pretty well for me depression wise. However, it totally killed my appetite. Normally I wouldn't mind that side-effect too much, but this was a little much. After a few days it got to the point that the thought of food made me feel ill. I was having to force myself to eat at least one thing a day to keep the weak and dizzies away, but even one high calorie something wasn't enough. I don't recall any other side effects though. Good luck

I was put on Topamax for migraines a few years ago. I was on it for several months until it got too costly. For me, the good outweighed the bad. I did have word recall issues and weird tingling in extremities that lasted for a few weeks, then stopped. Other, beneficial side effects included pop tasting like crap(!) and absolutely no thoughts what-so-ever about food. In fact, I dropped over 30lbs in the first month I was on it! I just didn't think about food, in fact, the only time I knew that I should be eating was when I saw others eating (you know, lunch time, dinner time, etc.). I have been thinking about asking my doctor to put me back on it for a trial run, however I have heard (like a previous poster said) that the weight loss only occurs the first time you take it. I figure, eh? If it doesn't happen again, no big loss.

I also took topamax as a preventative for migraines. For me, it would help my migraines for a while, but then stop help until we increased my dosage, over and over again.

Once I got high enough, I absolutely could not tolerate the side effects. I lost a little weight, but I lost sensation in my hands, feet, lips, nose, etc. I also couldn't think clearly. I forgot things all the time, and I just wasn't myself.

But, I know of a lot of people who have more positive things to say about their experience.

I take it

I went to a neurologist last year because I was having horrible migraines and he prescribed me Topamax. He told me to take it before I went to bed. I did, and when I woke up the next day I could hardly get up and move and think. I don't know how I managed my one-hour drive to work that day, but the entire day at work I felt "doped" up and could barely concentrate on anything. I mentioned this to a guy I worked with who recommended the neurologist (he went to him because he has epilepsy), and he said I should not take the medicine again, and should contact the neurologist right away. He said he had taken Topamax before at higher dosage than I, and he said he was doped up for a week straight and couldn't stand that side effect of it. The neurologist told me to not take the medicine again if it was making me so doped up.

I have to say it was one of the worst effects I've had to a medication, and it sounds like from people on here that they have the same "doped" up feeling.

I take topamax 200 mg twice daily. It seems to be the right medication for me because it helps control my bipolar and epilepsy. (I'm not the most physically blessed human being.) I would have to agree that the side effects are generally pretty awful though, especially the way it slows my mental function. It takes me a lot longer to make connections between things. I'll have to read a book many many times to understand it because its hard for me to figure out how the paragraphs connect. I've seen some weight loss on the medication as it does decrease my appetite a great deal. I take cymbalta as well and it seems to work well. I would be careful about taking it if you're in a job where you need to be intellectual as I know my grades have gone down. Otherwise it seems to work alright.