Topiramate (Topamax)

Made migraines worse and made me feel doped up.
Posted by: Joyful November 7, 2009 2:10 pm

made my complex migraines better, but had to get off because it caused kidney stones. Also caused severe short term memory loss.
Posted by: eafpdc October 19, 2009 9:45 am

First time I tried it, I had such severe short term memory loss that I had to stop it. I couldn't even remember which teeth on which side of mouth I had brushed AS I was brushing. Second time I was able to tolerate it, though I search for the right words more frequently. Does not seem to have helped migraine either and I did not lose any weight.
Posted by: icecara October 18, 2009 3:15 pm

Was on varying doses for about 5 years. A TERRIBLE drug...my family called it "Dope-a Max". Hair fell out by the handfulls, couldn't think, concentrate, or remember anything, caused me much difficulty at work (Med Tech in busy Hospital Lab), had difficulty speaking. It DID diminish the frequency of my migraines, and I Did Love the weight loss... but the terrible cognitive side effects FAR outweighed the helpfulness. Now that I am off of it, I have gained back the 20 pounds that I lost while on it, but I have my Brain, and my speech and my senses back.. oh and my hair stopped falling out.
Posted by: sfarrell1007 October 16, 2009 10:57 am

Currently on 250mg a day. Love the weight loss benefits, but did not seem to be helping until my doctor found I had a vitamin D dificiency. May be going off the topomax if that continues to help. Topomax alone did not seems to be helping alone.
Posted by: horseperson October 12, 2009 4:39 pm

I was on 100 mg a day for 5 months, not only did it make my migraines worse, I felt as if I were an alzheimers victim. Getting off this drug is the worse migraine I've ever experienced and I did not think anything could be worse then the migraines I experience.
Posted by: sherryg53 October 9, 2009 10:59 pm

Sadly I was never given this medication until already in my mid 40's. This is by far the only thing I have taken thru the years to make any difference in the severity and frequency of my migraines.It still doesn't help me when I do get one. However I do get them less and they are less severe and that is huge to me now. I wish this was available to me 25 years ago. I have tried every other drug out there I think!
Posted by: Debslife August 4, 2009 6:48 pm

I had moderate - significant improvement for awhile. But I was taking 300mgs a day. The cognitve side effects far outweighed the benefits.
Posted by: poohbear August 1, 2009 6:25 pm

I've taken it for over 5 years now. 200mg/day. It is what saved me from a life of daily Migraines. The cognitive difficulties get extremely annoying especially in the first year or two(I even went off of it for about 7months to see if they would return to normal because I hate feeling stupid), but after being on it for so long now, I only have menstrual Migraines, my word difficulties are minimal compared to what they were. However my short-term memory is a complete blank. I do wonder if I'll ever get that back.
Posted by: Shan May 7, 2009 11:30 am

Good fo rmigraines but it make worse my kidney stones condition
Posted by: martagaba May 7, 2009 5:42 am

Made me very very depressed after 3 weeks at 2 x 25mg. Did nothing for my migraine associated vertigo. Loss of words, inability to multi-task, confusion, general feeling viral. Would consider a re-trial starting at a much lower dose (12.5mg) and titrating up much slower.
Posted by: Amazon13 May 7, 2009 12:27 am

No help at all
Posted by: akpicc May 6, 2009 10:05 pm

This is life savor - got rid of all my migraines except for the menstrual ones.
Posted by: soccer4fun@cox.net May 6, 2009 8:45 pm

This literally gave me a life back. Just before Topamax, I remember camping and mapping out the nearest ER just in case the heat & sun got to me. I never went to the ER for treatment because my partner's a paramedic and I could see how well that would go over. I always felt like I was dying, but would tell myself I'm not - it's not life threatening. After Topamax, I never even considered the ER again. Been on it almost 4 years, up and down in dose - at 50mg now. Over 100mg too much hair fell out, although lots still does. Cognitive difficulties, tingling limbs, difficultly finding words, aggression & irritability - yes. Organs are probably turning black or pickling - but it's so worth it just to be off that couch living!
Posted by: MM April 28, 2009 9:32 am

Topiramate did not help my migraines,maybe the dose wasn't high enough but the drug also made me very depressed so i discontinued it in a very short time.
Posted by: jane December 30, 2008 9:57 am

Took this as a preventative but was only truly effective at a dose of 300mg/day. The only problem with this high dose was I was having extreme cognitive difficuties, mainly word-finding difficulties. Had to go down to 200mg/day, which was not enough to prevent my attacks.
Posted by: wickedgirl-123 December 29, 2008 10:52 am