Topamax???

[speternel]

I am on 150mg of Effexor daily and I also take .5mg of xanax as needed. I also take 200mg of Seroquel @ night. I am ready to be off of my anti-depressants. My therapist brought up that from talking to me she thinks that my depression and anxiety could be helped with taking topamax. She also thinks that it would help with the weight the Seroquel has made me put on. Is this a good a idea????

[Mark TX]

I took Topamax for about two days before flushing the entire bottle down the toilet.  Worst drug I was ever prescribed... literally made me think about blowing my brains out.  And it was that incident that served as an 'wake-up call' of sorts for me.

I'm now off meds completely... except for what's left of the Klonopin I'm slowly tapering.  I finally realized that much, if not all of psychiatric prescription is trial and error.  My current doc told me at our last session that some patients need to try ten different meds before finding 'one that works.'  Well, I think I'm one of those who wasn't even lucky enough to hit 1 of 10.  I've been on 17 different meds.  No thanks!

Hope you have better luck than I did.

mark

[JustTrying2Help]

Topamax is an anti-convulsant commonly used to treat epilespy and migraines but it's also noted for its mood stabilizing abilities. One of the ways Topamax works is by increasing the number of GABA neurostransmitters, a brain chemical that's supposed to halt anxiety.

Will Topamax work in treating your depression and anxiety? Short answer: maybe. For some people Topamax has worked wonders but for others it actaully made the problem worse. Everyone's chemistry is different so there is no way to tell how Topamax will effect you. It shows promise for your situation (in my opinion) but be aware that it can backfire on you.

When I was on Topamax for migraine treatment I developed severe depression. The depression left after I got off of Topamax. Depression is actually one of the listed possible side effects but this isn't the case for everyone. It's very common for people to loose weight when on Topamax, I had to eat a lot more to keep my weight stable since I was 10 pounds underweight from the beginning of the treatment but I still lost 12 pounds. The annoying side effects were tingling in the arms and feet (like your foot falling asleep all the time) but it gets less frequent and carbinated beverages taste bad.

So my advice would be to go ahead and try it but like with any other meds keep tabs on your depression and anxiety. If things get worse contact your therapist. Hope this helps and that Topamax does too. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional.