I been on topamax for 4 months. I have not lost 1 pound. The scale is the same but people say I look thinner ? It made me have suicidal thoughts and messed with my emotions in the beginning. I went on this for weight loss and for control for my alcohol addiction and I still drink and have cravings. I’m not sure why this medication isn’t working for me. I’m on 100mg. ALSO, I read it interferes with birth control and emergency contraceptives (plan b) which stressed me out. Idk about this medication. I wish it worked for me like a lot of the reviews I read but it just seemed like a waste of time and did everything but help me lose weight and stop drinking. So idk. Be cautious . Cheers!
Initially started on 25mg 2x daily, now I am on 50mg 2x daily for migraine prevention. I have not yet experienced less frequent headaches. I have experienced the loss of appetite with weight loss and the vision changes. Hoping for improvement since starting the 50mg.
I wasn’t prescribed this drug for migraines. I have nerve pain from fibromyalgia and hypermobility. It seemed okay at first. Never really did a ton for the pain, but I didn’t notice the side effects until a few months in. Every once in a while it would sound like I could hear a lot of people screaming in my head at the same time, but they were really far away. It would last anywhere from ten to 30 seconds. Needless to say, that was pretty disturbing. Then my hair started to fall out. I lost half my hair in the span of four or five months. I’m a woman so it was pretty shocking to see my hair suddenly getting thinner and thinner. When I discontinued this medication, the auditory hallucinations and hair loss stopped. It was the only thing I changed about my treatment. Topamax made me hear things and lose my hair and all I wanted to do was not hurt. It didn’t even really do that for me. I really caution anyone to be careful when it comes to this drug.
I took this stuff for one week. Doctor started me on 50 mg a day and I was so nauseated, dizzy, and I think it gave me a headache! The feeling of nervousness and restlessness was just too much to bare. I had to stop it and also horrible constipation. I cannot see how anyone can tolerate it. The day I stopped, I began to have blurred vision which really scared me. I wouldn't recommend it to a dog!
Beginning: I started taking topamax in August of 2023 for binge eating disorder. Off the bat I noticed a pretty severe decline in my mental capacity - memory, responsiveness, and ability to critically think. Often referred to as "dope-a-max" by healthcare professionals, topamax can create brain fog, delayed speech, and memory loss. It was worse if I had any alcohol. During: As far as its effectiveness for binge eating, it worked really well and has even helped me keep the same appetite 6 months after discontinuing use. It made me sleepy but that wasn't a big deal since I took it at bedtime. I was on 50 mg for most of my treatment. Another thing I noticed that's hard to describe is that I felt like I "couldn't see" sometimes. It's like the brain fog mixed in with my vision and created this muffled state in my mind and vision. It's scary thinking back on it but at the time I just felt kind of numbed out. After: I chose to stop taking the drug because of the side effects and went off of it semi-gradually, lowering the dose and then skipping days in between before stopping altogether. When I stopped taking it in May of 2024, I started shedding hair at an alarming rate. It finally started getting back to normal in October 2024, but it's still not fully recovered. The whole experience was pretty traumatizing and I thought I would have permanent hairloss. Overall, I would not recommend taking this drug for binge eating disorder. It's very strong and I would think there's alternatives with less harsh side effects.
In January 2024 I began taking Topamax for about 1 week to prevent migraines when I experienced a horrible migraine with partial loss of vision. I went to the ER and the dr's did not know what I had. I went to my local hospital who didn't know what I had and they kept giving me the Topamax daily. Meanwhile my eyesight is worsening and now I'm almost blind. Transferred me to Pittsburgh hospital and I met a young doctor who figured out quickly that I had double choroidal effusions brought on by severe eye pressure from Topamax. Slowly, with medication, most of my eyesight returned but I have permanent damage: Deterioration of right eye vision, trauma cataracts and a pupil that refuses to dilate - leaving me vulnerable to cataracts down the road. Unfortunately, I can see from several reviews here that I am not alone in my experience. This is a dangerous medication.
I was prescribed topamax/topirimate for Restless Leg Syndrome and Binge Eating Disorder. I took it for 10 days before I had serious side effects. I did not notice a difference with the RLS, but I did notice that it made me less hungry and made things like soda and sweets taste bad. On day 10 I was at work when I suddenly got blurry vision that wouldn't go away. I went to the ER and was told that the medication induced Acute Closed Angle Glaucoma and it made me go blind for 6 days. My eye pressure was 62 as compared to the normal 10-20. If I didn't go to the ER and have my eye pressure reduced, I would've went blind permanently and needed laser eye surgery. I was so blind that I couldn't even see that there was an eye test on the wall. After 6 days of complete blindness I slowly regained vision in both eyes. I was prescribed many eye medications in order to do this. This ordeal put my life on hold, I had to go on disability with my work as well as have people take care of me and drive me to appointments. This was an extreme and rare reaction, but had I known this was a possibility, I would not have taken it. Since what happened to me was rare, I'm going to explain the symptoms because there was no info online when I was experiencing this: Sudden loss of vision, you can only see things that are close to your face. Extreme nearsightedness. Headache and eye pain. Feeling like your eyes will pop out of your head. Nausea and vomiting, drowsiness. This is a medical emergency- if you're experiencing this, tell the doctor you think it is Acute Closed Angle Glaucoma induced by topamax/topirimate - I was tested for a lot of things before it was narrowed to that and it potentially wasted time for treatment. You have to catch this fast in order to regain vision. They will test your eye pressure and go from there. If you are going through this get help immediately. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to bring awareness to the extreme and rare reaction.
I’ve been taking Topimax for 16yrs - they started when I was 11yrs old. It was so bad I tried to killed my self in my teens. Topimax saved me. My migraines were horrendous. I am allergic to Torridol an midrin. Tree weeks ago…my migraines came back like with a vengeance. I’ve been non-functioning for 3weeks. No lights, no food, just bed, pain meds, topamax and lots of tears. Writing this while in the docs office. Praying for something to help.
My husband took this medication for two days and started to pass out three times within the same day then turned gray and stopped breathing. I had to call 911 and he was then taken to the hospital. The only thing different that was changed is this medication. Since then Ive stopped it. He hasn’t had any problems since. Thank God i was there to be able to preform CPR otherwise he would not of made it. DO NOT TAKE THIS MEDICATION.
Topamax has worked very well for me. I had absolutely no appetite the first couple weeks (which was nice while it lasted), but no other side effects to speak of. It has been a life-saver for my vestibular migraines!
I was put on this medication as an off-label for weight loss (BMI 30). I happen to have essential tremor, so it has been a nice bonus to have that treated. In just a few weeks, I am down almost 10 lbs, this has helped me manage my food intake, reassess my relationship with alcohol, and my mood has improved (it helps to get exercise when you’ll turn on the radio and break into some spontaneous dance - haven’t felt like doing that in years). I was really skeptical about taking medication for weight loss, especially an AED, but this has been a really positive experience. My only side effects have been some mild tingling in my hands when I stepped up to my most recent dose (added 25mg AM to my 50mg PM), and occasional difficulty word-finding. Not like I can’t come up with a full sentence or an idea, but more like there would be a perfect word to express a thought, I can’t quite come up with that one, so I have to explain myself differently. Annoying, but not a deal-breaker as long as a thesaurus exists.
It’s worst medication…I was on the verge of losing my eyesight in couple of days due to this medication as it increased my eyes pressure.
I take it for fibromyalgia pain, starting at 25mg working up to 300 a day. But it saved my life,so many days I was not even able to get out of bed and go to work. I was ready to give up, I was in so much pain. That was 25 yrs ago, It made my life worth living again. Sometimes I have a little numbness in my fingers, and tinkling. Hey I can put up with that . I that God for that medicine every day. I wish everyone could be blessed from it like I was.
Has prevented my pre-menopausal migraines and had the added benefit of weight loss.
I was prescribed this for mood stabilizer, and I would give it a 7 out of 10 for that. The third time I took it ( I suffer from chronic insomnia) with amitriptyline, and lunesta I had visual and audio hallucinations, severe uncontrollable body tremors, nausea, and dizziness.It lasted about 1 hour and I was VERY close to calling 911 because I thought I was going to die. I have taken sleep meds for 20 + years so I am not new to medication. My Doctor told me to take it several hours before bed, and it has helped. I wish all of you the best, God Bless.
Started taking this the end of April. Mother’s Day thought I got what I can only describe as food poisoning. So was off for 1 week then went back on. Father’s Day weekend thought I got too overheated and ended up sick for a week with vomiting, diarrhea and nausea. One week no medication again then went back on everything. This week July 17th once again vomiting, diarrhea and nausea. Now thinking it’s this medication. Stopping it completely now and will go on something else for nerve pain.
I've been on Topamax and Norco 5/325 for a few years now never felt so pain free in my life! They go hand in hand even though Topamax can be used off label for pain also never had a bad experience yet that's the only combination that truly got me literally pain free. And on top of that after many injections, transformal epidurals on my back which the Dr I had punctured my L4and L5 with the epidural needles caused me to have to have a L4/L5 Laminectomy to stop bleeding in on my spine and countless hours of physical therapy like 1200 hours of it I've never had better results in my life and no side effects no problems of any kind I can do things a 18 year old can do and I was a mechanic for 30 years and retired at 39 and now I'm 43 and haven't felt this good in many years I'm ex military 6 years in a volunteer fireman for 10 years and EMT Level 1 Truama Technician for 5 years and a contractor for over 28 years I like what's going on here I can do what's necessary as I expect but also you have 2 listen to your body also I can run with the best of them but when I'm done I'm done pushing myself put me in those situations not to mention was in a fatal accident at 18 that bout killed me a car ejection but thank God my Dr is smart and listened to my suggestions and ran with it and been literally pain free since thank God never felt better in my life considering I've been all but killed seriously. That my experience with pain medicine and Topamax regiment wouldn't change my.meds for the world ????
SLIDESHOW
What Is Epilepsy? Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments See SlideshowThis medication made it impossible for me to drive my car at night. I couldn't see, I would get confused and would panic. I didn't know that it was what was causing it. I also had trouble remembering things, incontinence, my mouth was extremely sensitive to spicy foods. I did lose a lot of weight pretty quickly. I cut my dose in half to taper off and all side effects stopped.
I took 2 pills than my vision got blurry time my husband got me to the hospital i was completely blind. I had emergency surgery and two holes were put into my eyes to drain the fluid. Worst part was i was treated bad as the people working in emergency didnt know what was wrong and treated me as a drug addict. It was 24 hours before they knew what was wrong and tried to fix it. My sight took 6 weeks to come back and now no one can guarantee that any medication for my pain wont do the same thing. So the only thing that helps me live a normal life and get out of bed every morning and play with my grandson is percecets and of course everyone is trying to take them away from me. I feel so bad from people on the street that have turned to street drugs because they took their life away from them not giving them the help and prescriptions they need to live a happy life pain free. God bless and please be careful taking this drug
So far I've lost 20 pounds in 3 months. But, I'm sick, nausea is bad, I'm fixing to call my doc to get off it's hard on me and I need a break. I'm nervous and anxious and from past history I already take other meds to combat those symptoms anyway.lol. I'm working against my psychology hard work history taking this medication. I look forward to tapering down and relaxing again and being able to eat normal no more belly ache.