Mood stabilizer topomax - The good, bad and the ugly

[Bluetwo]

Has anyone tried this med? I heard it makes you into a dolt. I do have problems with stringing a sentence together at times but under this med....it will make it worst. Is that just initial start of adjusting to the medication and goes away as it gets into your system?

I have tried anti-depressants and various other meds to control my bipolar. The initial start is always filled with emotional baggage and side effects. Patience is the key and waiting six weeks for the final results to see if you feel better or not. That should be the guide.

I hear its a great way to lose weight. People develop different taste buds after taking this med's....soda taste awful which is okay with me...soda damages your teeth anyway. I be willing to give that up. I'm a big tea drinker. I'll howl if I can't have my Chamomile at night!

Some other site mentions you will develop anemia. Will this drug mess up my immune system? What will happen to my red and white blood cells? I think that's serious concern and I'm not willing to give up my immune system to stablize my moods. Got enough to worry about without thinking about the next superbug.

But becoming stupid is very worrisome.
I like to be alert and not be drugged out like a zombie.
How can I operate daily activities if I can't think straight?
They nicknamed this drug Stupidmax. I have a real problem with that since I substitute teach. I've got enough problems trying to keep classroom control and keeping the little buggers in line. But I have noticed even without medication....words become inarticulate when I lost my top with the kids anyway. You can't use bad language and I have to bite my tongue to watch my chosen words. As Martha Stewart always mentions; "That might be a good thing."

Maybe my thinking will slow me down. I have to look and reflect...really think about what I'm going to say before I shoot off mouth at random but its not helpful when we have a real fire drill in our school. What would the parents say if I reflected and zenned out when the smoke filled the classroom.

As Bill O'Reilly would say...."What say you?"

[Missyk1970]

Hi this is my first time ever posting on something like this..I've been on lamotrigine 200mg over 5 years for bipolar and has worked very well for me. In Feb. of 2014 my pharmacist gave me 200 mg of topamax which were in my perscription bottle that said lamotrigine. I didn't pay attention that the pills looked different because he told me he was out of 200mg (lamotrigine)so he gave me 100mg and told me to take 2 each day. After 3 days of taking 200mg of topamax I thought i was going crazy. I suffered fro siezures, numbness in face hands feet., my vission was blurry it felt i had no thoughts. I was delusional. My speach was slurred where i couldn't get my words out. I went to ER and found out it was topamax. So I was also having withdraws from stopping my lamotrgine quickly and hadn't had it for 4 days. The dr. At Er gave me 200 mg of my lamotrigine and i got worse. My foot arm and neck twisted and stiffened and couldn't move. I spent 2 weeks in psyciatric hospital to adjust my meds. My mental state is better but i now have neck and eye dystonia.( movement disorder) I've looked online trying to find someone who has had anything simaler happen with topamax and can't find anything.  

[Dbrown69]

The cognitive blunting you speak of is a reason for concern. At first this was the miracle my wife needed. Over the corse of five years she has lost childhood memories, marriage memories and starting on her 5th year she does not remember raising our children. Each year her dose was upped all the way to125mg which has helped her headaches but at a tremendous loss. Now the mood swings are horrible to the point of me not wanting to be around her. Trust me this drug should only be used in the most extreme circumstance. Trust me if gastritis was the only thing you have to worry about you are more in Denial then my wife. I can't convince her to stop taking it. So trust me unless you want to forget your most precious memeries and live in a fog and be irritated all the time. Find a different cure.

[Bluetwo]

My doctor put me back on Wellbutrin and Clonzapam.
I guess he was weary of  the other mood stablizers too.
He didn't want me to gain weight.
He said if I experience any mania reduce the Wellbutrin.dosage.
I'm allow to self monitor!
Sounds good to me.

[ILADVOCATE]

All medications need to be monitored and all can have adverse side effects. It depends what the common side effects are. Topomax can cause gastritis but if caught in time it will go away. It not, as in a friend of mine, it can be dangerous. But he chose not to read the warning labels on the medication vials which doesn't make sense. I did and when I started on Topomax and got stomach pains I stopped it immediately. Some medications I have gotten adverse side effects so rare that it was literally a statistic. Other medications that some people cannot often tolerate I responded well to. Aside from reading and understanding the beneficial effects as well as side effects of a medication its a matter of trial and error though as medications and their effect on the brain is being studied that can and will change.

[courtann]

I was on Topamax for compulsive overeating.  Within two weeks of starting the medication, I cam down with a serious chest infection that did not respond to any "normal" treatment.  I ended up with two series of antibiotics, steroid inhaler and coedeine for cough.  It took over a month to clear that infection.  Then came the yeast.  This was June.  Itching and bumps were the first sign but they held on tight.  My body could simply not fight.  I took a two pill course of diflucan and then the internal part of the infection went away, but I have external skin infection, two months later.  I finally went off the topamax two weeks ago and am trying to see a dermatologist now to help me with my vulvar infection.  This drug, regardless of what anyone will tell you, can and will damage you, if you are one of the fortunate ones to experience the side effects I have.  If there is another choice for you, PLEASE DO NOT TAKE TOPAMAX!

[theguts]

I read somewhere that Topomax can cause hair loss.  Has anyone else heard this?

[kristy0926]

I was on Tomomax for about a year a while back for seizures and i lost about 20 lbs. and I ended up having real bad speech retreaval problems and cognitive problems. I just couldn't find the right words for things and acted like I was out there. I was tired all the time too. I was on  a higher dose then too. Now my doctor is trying me on it for a mood stabilizer at a low dose for BP, I am on 25mg in am and p.m. I haven't noticed anythig yet and been on it about 2 weeks. I know it is not really helping my headaches that I get alot. I may be a little less moody. I just don't ever want to go back to the way I was before. I enjoyed reaading your comments

[Bluetwo]

So being ditzy will go away? How many weeks will it take to get my smarts back?
I'm also glad that the monotone personality goes away too because I do love my lovable uppity side.

It's always interesting the side effect at the starting dose....weird things happen.


When I started with Lamotrigine it was a sensation. I coiuld feel my frontal lobe switching "the off and on switch" if you know what I mean. I was really laughing and crying spontaneously!

By the 6th and 7th week I was having twitches in my limbs at bedtime, a bad flu, a lousy gait and some motor agitation.

It was slowly getting used to the drug with all the "minor" side effect but I broke out in a awful rash. Everything itch!!! Everything!!!! Started with my feet and traveled up to my face! I was red as a lobster!

I will talk to my pdoc. I will try another mood stabilizer and if it doesn't work well after the 8th week I will go back to my old medications.

[AmishErin]

I have been diagnosed with bp and I also have MS... I  already have a lowered immune system but didn't notice anything added when I was on topamax.

It does make you feel quite dumb at first... not so bad if you increase the dose very slowly.  When I was first on it I forgot how to spell Utah.  I lost just over 100 lbs when I was on this drug... thats why they took me off of it.  

My husband says it makes me have a monotone personality.  That goes away after its in your system too.

Good Luck

[Bluetwo]

"Hopefully I didn't misspell too many words, and have too many grammatical errors! You'll take everything I just wrote and flush it down the toilet!"

I like your post! It was very informative.....and flushing grammatical errors down the toilet only plugs it up! My husband thought he could flush clumpy kitty litter down the toliet because he was too lazy to throw it in the trash in the frigid cold.

Our bowl overfloweth all over the bathroom floor.

I know...I know....I will have to retrurn to the meds...I will get manicky and then I get into a foul mood. I know hell will break lose when I start blaming the world for their misdeeds and my poor husband will pay for flushing kitty litter down the toliet. When your in down slide of mania....any argument will do.

But my husband has been a good sport and very understanding.
He said he thinks I'm fun being around when I'm in a jovial mood.
He is like a good poker player. As Kenny Roger sang...."know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em and know when to run away."

But right now I feel like a free roaming laying hen without her coop. Why can't a girl just have a little fun manical fun moments before going back to the pdoc?

I need a inexpensive vacation.

[Twelvesgirl]

First of all, awesome losing 50 lbs and sticking to the diet etc afterwards!

I'm on Lamotrogine for BP and Topamax for migraines. I've been on Topamax for about 5 months. At first I immediately lost 10 lbs, and felt very sluggish. It works well for my tension headaches, and the type of migraine I get, and any side effect I had has gone away. I take mine at night as my neurologist prescribed to help reduce side effects. I don't know if that really works, I just listen to what my doctors say! Just like w/ Lamotrogine, it affects everyone differently, I didn't get a rash, and I started off at 100mg, then went up to 200mg very quickly after without side effects. Trial and error stinks but for us I guess we just have to do it that way. I wish you the best :) And I always feel the best when not on meds too. All the way up until I mess everything up again while manic!!! Good luck! Hopefully I didn't misspell too many words, and have too many grammatical errors! You'll take everything I just wrote and flush it down the toilet!

[Bluetwo]

Before I was diagnosed with bp I was treated for hypothyroidism out in California back in the 1988.

I got into holistic medience. The thyroid med's did work. I had a virus in my thyroid that was causing my sluggishness and then I didn't need them anymore. Thyroid med's helps to lose weight but if it makes you too hyper then you need to get off because of hyprtension.  

But I still felt I wasn't cured. I still had all these emotional aggitations. Mostly mixed moods.

I'm very cautions about mood stabilzers. When you change your med's its all a waiting game for six week to see if they work. Last time when I started Lamotrigine I was in a mental fog and felt fatigued. I just stare at people when they talk to me because I'm trying to filter the information. There is a period of adjustment and I don't like feeling very vulnerable.

My inner child comes popping up. It's nice to act like a silly kid but not in the work environment. Were suppose to act like adults but I certainly break up the boredom in the teachers lounge. What ever concerns a teacher's bad day...they come out of the lounge feeling good....they haven't lost their minds...yet. They dodge the bullet. Our new inexperience teachers fear this very much and wonder if this is the outcome when they pass the five year mark in their profession.

The pdoc better come up with something because I have to go back to substitute teaching in the next 81/2 weeks.

I'm not on any med's right now after the Lamotrigine rash. I have to wait for all the residue to get out of my system and start on something else. My next appointment: July 20th.

Trouble is, I'm feeling really good now not being not medicated. I'm even staying away from my clonzapam to get to sleep when I get aggitated at night. I lost a lot of weight since Jan 2008. I use to have my wine with dinner and I gave that up since alcohol is just empty calories....Weight Watcher said so. I lost 50 lbs. Why consume 2 points for a glass of wine when you could of had a V8...that 0 points. I go to the gym religiously...monday, wednesday and friday.

Sometimes you have to think like a athlete.

And I'm doubting that I have bipolar because I feel okay now. Why take medication. I feel happy and jolly. Why bother going for medication especially when they give you a terrible rash.

[CrzyBeautiful1]

I have taken topomax in the past. Not for bipolar, as I have been diagnosed yet, but I was prescribed it for my migraines. Not only did I stop having migraines while taking it, but my daily tension headaches completely went away also. And because of that, I worshipped this med. They had me increase my dosage by 25 mg every week until I was at a dosage that worked. In the end however, I had to stop taking it because of the side effects. I stopped at 125 mg, which seemed to work great as far as my headaches went, but I was getting dizzy spells, numbness and brain fog, and although at first the benefits outweighed the side effects, it eventually got really bad with my mind being so clouded. NOW, I must say that I also have hypothyroidism, which has these same symptoms, and maybe the topomax somehow affected the quality of my thyroid med (Idk I'm just saying). I'm not saying it did, I'm just letting u know that the side effects I had from it are the same symptoms of hypothyroidism.

And yes, it is a great med for weight loss! I believe some docs prescribe it for that on occasion. My neurologist told me it was impossible to gain weight on Topomax. Whether or not she was exaggerating, I lost over 20 lbs while taking it (I was also on my thyroid med too which helps).

[ILADVOCATE]

No the cognitive blunting you speak about is not really a side effect of concern. Topomax can cause weight loss to the point where I believe its approved as a diet medication. That's generally not of concern either. The only side effect of concern that would be one to watch out for is gastritis and if that occurs you would need to ask your psychiatrist to change you to another medication as that can develop into something long term as happenned as with a friend of mine and other people. But that happens over time. Just check to see if it upsets your stomach. Other than that there are no specific side effects of concern. I know with myself it was going to be used as an adjunct mood stabilizer so see how it goes and if it works and you can tolerate it has been used as a mood stabilizer for a while and one that is generally safe and effective.