How Long Do Topamax Side Effects Last? (Page 3)

I began Topamax a week and a half ago as a migraine prevention. I am experiencing random facial, hands, and feet numbness. Mental fogginess, dull headaches, and tiredness. For those of you who have had success with migraine prevention and have taken this medication for a long time: How long did your side effects last? I have heard only a few weeks. I'm not sure If I can deal with this constantly much longer. I am contemplating which is the lesser of the two evils side effects vs. migraines. I have lost 10 lbs. though. Any advice?

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i have to second and third that don't take it especially for a child

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Becky my son is 5ft5 200lbs. He was diagnosed with adhd, odd,seperation anxiety, bipolar. He was on adderall, concerta, abilify, geodon, trileptal, intuniv and now topamax. The dr just took him off the geodon because my son seemed tired all the time even falling asleep in class and the teachers said he was unconscious and they had to pour water on him to wake him. He is getting dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping at night. I am very concerned about this medication that was prescribed for my son and reading up about it scares me even more. I am considering getting another psychiatrist because the one he has says we are running out of meds to give him. It hurts me to see my son go through the things he does. He has been on so many different meds and it seems like he has had nothing but problems on all of them. Thank you for your reply. It means alot

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Thank you Cindylou. You and Becky have been very helpful. As a mother I know my child and even though he says he feels fine I know he isnt

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hello. I was only on topirimate for 10 days & have had moderate hair thinning being on this medication for migraines and was wondering does the hair ever get thick again? I was only on the medicine for 10 days (50 mg in the morning & 50 mg at night) and took my last dose yesterday morning. Yes, I have stopped cold turkey! I cannot deal with all the side effects! my hair was thick & curly!! would biotin help me & would it take long since I wasn't on the medication long? how long does it take to get out of your system?

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oh anytime and good luck i know what you mean abt being a mother, my opinion would be try a diff dr, sounds like too much meds to begin with, but i can only speak for topamax its dangerous! good luck to you and your son:)

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I'm glad I could help. But I am not a doctor. I a social worker who has worked with adolescents for over 15 years. First, your son's diagnoses. The symptoms of these diagnoses can look very much alike, so I would be surprised if he really met the crieteria for all of them. Second, there are a lotore medications that can be tried and that have less side effects. But no meds will work without talk therapy to go along with them. As a mother and a social worker, I would recommend getting a full psychological evaluation done by a respected child psychologist or a local good hospital. Then I would also look into finding a really good psychiatrist and therapist who would consider taking him off all meds and restarting slowly with less intense meds. I know time and insurance can be limiting, but i hope you will consider this. I am not opposed to children taking medication, but too many kids are put on cocktails of adult medications, and the side effects can be worse than the symptoms. I wish you and your son all the best and good luck! Don't forget to fight hard for what you believe in. Sometimes you have to make insurance companies and doctors hear you loud ans clearly!

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I took my son to the er and they saw his confusion restlessness he couldnt even remember the day or his birthday. They looked into both of the meds he was taken and said that the intuniv may cause seizures so they took him off both meds and put him back on geodon 40mg at night and said that for his age he was taking to much which will cause him to always be tired and took him off the intuniv and reffered me to another psychiatrist. So through the night I continued to monitor him through the night and he had a few twitches but he did sleep all night. Thank you for the advice both of you.

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Hang in there Kre...it will get better!

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I took this drug for about two years, and had horrible side effects that won't complete go away. I used to be a straight A student, but on this drug I couldn't think or understand anything. I continued to tell my doctors, who did nothing, and acted like it wasn't the drug. No one told me the side effects, so I didn't really understand when I was experiencing them, or in other words, I didn't understand these things were from the medication. Doctors should not be giving this if they aren't going to explain it to you and give you real warnings.

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Hello! I saw your post and, as a pharmacist, I must say I know of some people that had the same side effects. Nevertheless one must realise that those side effects that you complain about are a consequence of how the medicine works. It reduces the uncontrolled electrical activity that exists when someone has a seizure (epilepsy) or a migraine. Since our way of thinking also comes with electrical activity, then the side effects you experience are to be expected. Normally a person who first starts with this medication takes it in gradually higher dosages AND MUST NOT stop it all of a sudden. Was that the way you were told to take it?

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I have been a migraine sufferer for 12 years.. On every med you can think of with no effect, mind you working 16 hour shifts as a nurse with a migraine is debilitating especially when they (patients) need your undivided attention. In Oct 2011 I had a terrible migraine called my primary and was told to go in after work for Toradol IV. I went home was upstairs getting some things coming down the stairs and here comes the migraine I don't remember much but being sprawled out on the floor... Well at the neurologists he placed me on topamax 25mg per day increasing it slowly and I'm still on it today at 75mg a day.. I have good and bad days... Maybe 5 migraines a year compared to 5 a week!! That's a positive, the negative side is the coldness all the time and the tingling and loss o sensation in my fingers and especially when I am doing my job:( I am Startin to notice the forgetfulness and now I am extremely worried...

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I recently stopped taking Topanga. I stopped cold turkey, I wasn't thinking of any side affects when I did this. The reason I stopped is due to the terrible taste in my mouth. I was put on this drug for anxiety. My parents died within a month of each other and although I suffer from mood disorder and am on Amoral 200mg.daily it wasn't helping with the anxiety. I have been on 50 mg.since December of 2013 so approximately 3 months. I experience tingling in face and leg. Have had diagnoses such as an MRI and everything was negative. However, I have been feeling very nauseated I also am experiencing terrible headaches. Is this due to my stopping this drug? I was not put on this drug for headaches. ss

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My neurologist prescribed 50mg daily for 3 days, increased to 100mg daily for cluster headaches. I had horrific side effects. I felt high all the time. I would also experience intense waves where I was would become catatonic, fall asleep, be unable to read or think, could not understand words when people would speak, disorientation, I would lose time, experience vertigo, cold and numbness, pins and needles, the list goes on. I lost 4 pounds, was unable to drive and could not work or leave the house for a week. This is the devils drug, I would not recommend it unless it was for epilepsy or an absolute last resort for another condition. I would personally rather have cluster headaches especially after reading that almost 12% of people have permanent side effects from it. I stopped it after one week and am going to try verapamil which is a blood pressure med and has way fewer side effects. I have changed neurologists as a result of him prescribing this medication to me.

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i started to take topamax for a migraine 25 mg at the morning, 25 mg at night.. after two days i felt really tired. i slept 20 hours and still want to go for more...

then i decided to go online and i read about others experiences..i freaked out everyone felt the same as me...tingling in the brain, in the fingers, the toes, blurry vision, difficulty to do sports...

if i put in the balance have a migraine every week against numbing my mind with a drug that will made me slower, stupid and has many many other effects i would definitely go for the migraine. Then i read this is an anti epileptic drug !!!,,,and not just that they use it to treat bi polar disorders, alcoholism, bulimia...guys we just have migraines...imagine how this drug mess with your brain if it is able to treat those conditions...what are neurologist thinking!!! ..i had imagine that this drug was a month drug to take and migraine solve, but apparently you have to take it for years!! years of brain poison!!

And for migraines there is a study of sense neurologist that say that you have to take 800 mg of magnesium and 400 mg of vitamin B2 each day and you will be better.
HOW a migraine can be put at the same level of really brain messed up disorders...it's not that and all of you, i bet, know it...

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Before starting any medication you should be informed. If the doctor did not do that, do it yourself! Read labels as all prescriptions have the side effects attached. There is also more information than you can possibly consume available on the web! No one can blame anyone but themselves if they do not ask questions, read labels or research prior to starting any medication. Side effects are pretty much displayed and spelled out in black and white. If you choose not to do these things please do not play the woe is me card. Ignorance truly is bliss when you have control over what you are putting in your mouth!

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I have an adult-onset tic disorder. It's pretty severe and completely threw my life for a loop. I was unable to work, I was undiagnosed (pretty much still am—no idea as to the cause, but we've finally made it manageable), and I ended up living on my mother's couch as we shuttled from doctor to doctor and medication to medication.

Topamax was the first thing that made a major dent in my tics. Well, other than haldol, and there's no way I want to be on that again!

We started at a low dose, and I did have some pretty major side effects. But I've had major side effects with most of my meds, so we were expecting it. My doctor told me what I might expect, and that's why we started at such a low dose.

I had severe lethargy and exhaustion. I was in a mental fog; I couldn't follow a conversation for more than a minute or two. My face would tingle throughout the day like I'd come in to a hot room from a cold winter day, but without any temperature feelings. I had almost no appetite, and ended up filling the fridge with V8, Ensure, and SlimFast to make sure I got calories and nutrition (though I had put on 90 pounds after the tics started, so I haven't minded the weight loss).

But it definitely helped reduce the tics, both in frequency and severity. And my doctor said that the side effects should fade as your body gets used to the medication. That was a year ago, I think.

As I adapted, we slowly increased the dosage. I'm now at 400mg, twice a day. The max dosage. I'll occasionally have a face tingle... maybe once a week. My appetite is mostly back. Not entirely, but I still have extra weight to lose, so I'm not complaining. And I used to eat entire 16" pizzas by myself. I could probably stand to change my old eating habits. My cognitive abilities might be back to normal. Or at least close. It's hard to tell, because my tic disorder also causes some minor mental issues as well sometimes. But even if the Topamax side effects aren't 100% gone, my body has gotten used to it, and they're greatly diminished.

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Hi all. I am male and have migraine headaches all my life. I am on several medications and started taking the generic of Topamax, Topiramate a month ago, I immediately have the awful nasty taste in my mouth, dizziness, loss of coordination more headaches but also shortness of breath. Has this happened to anyone else out there? One other medications have been on about 3 years is Gabapentin has anyone had problems with that?

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Wow. Heidi that whole comment was uncalled for. If you do not like what you are reading DONOT comment because you don't have to. Every single medicine has side effects the majority have lists a mile long. So you making that comment helps no one! Doctors out their patients on medicines because the benefits outweigh the risks!! So you do your research!

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Heidi FYI EVERY MED HAS SIDE EFFECTS DEAR!! IF YOU GET CRAMPS AND TAKE IBUPROFEN THERE ARE S/E WE ALL KNOW THIS... AS A SUFFERER YOU OUT WEISS THE GOOD AND BAD, I HOPE SOME DAY YOUR NOT IN THIS PREDICAMENT UNTIL THEN DO NOT JUDGE PEOPLE

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GET RID OF THE BOYFRIEND! You have enough to deal with in life, you don't need some jerk who has no clue what its like to not be able to just jump into a vehicle whenever you want, let alone seizures and isolation, depression just to name a few. I know this because my daughter has gone thru the same thing but now has a boyfriend who is very understanding. I'm sure its not easy for him but he's not always complaining about it. There are NICE guys out there who will support you instead of making you feel worse than you already do.

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