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Topamax and weight loss
I have digenerative disc disease and my neirologist just prescribed topamax,
he said it would help with the pain and tingling but could result in weight loss.
I am wondering if prescribing topamax for ddd is common among neurologists? I can't seem to find any other information related to topamax as a pain med, only information I have is that it's a powerful drug with lots of side effects, most not so good.
The weight loss aspect is the only plus...also could this drug alter my brain function since I know it is used for bi-polar and seizure disorder... I'd like to know more about this med both from a neurologists view and from a weight loss specialists view. before I make a decision to take this medication
Thanks in advance for any/all responses
he said it would help with the pain and tingling but could result in weight loss.
I am wondering if prescribing topamax for ddd is common among neurologists? I can't seem to find any other information related to topamax as a pain med, only information I have is that it's a powerful drug with lots of side effects, most not so good.
The weight loss aspect is the only plus...also could this drug alter my brain function since I know it is used for bi-polar and seizure disorder... I'd like to know more about this med both from a neurologists view and from a weight loss specialists view. before I make a decision to take this medication
Thanks in advance for any/all responses
This is my 2nd time on topamax, and I found (after trail and error with many other bipolar meds)this works the best. Side efects...I SMELL-FEET TINGLE-SLOWER WEIGHT LOSS- but the good outweighs the bad. My mood is great at 200 ml, and I am feeling great!
Topamax is still a medication.If you do want to increase your dose and if you feel like you want to give it another try YOU NEED TO TALK TO A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. I can answer all those questions for you, but that would be irresposible to your mental health. Read the earlier posts, some paitents have had severe mood changes on this drug, no matter how thin you may get, your mind is more important. Call your doctor and please be careful.
Hello everyone, just a warning about the use of this drug. I am sure that it has its uses but weight loss in my opinion is not one of them. In Febraury of 2005 I went to the doctor comlaining that I was eating to much and my memory was poor. With no hesitation or questioning he mentioned that I should try topamax. I took the pescription but did not get it filled. About two weeks later I went to see him about something else and he asked me how the topamax was going. I told him that I really did not want to take a drug for the problem. He told me again of how good he thought the drug was and how well anouther patient of his was doing so I agreed to try it. I really trusted him.
So I started to take it (three 25mg tabs three times a day for ten days and then two 25mg tabs three times a day for ten days. Please do not use this information for your own use it is only mentioned for acuracy. Consult your own doctor if you want to take this drug). In the first week I noticed that I was feeling really quite good. By day ten the first unusual symptom happened to me. While I was reading my bible I started to cry. Now I must mention here that that has never happened to me before. It was just that everything I was reading seemed to have so much more meaning than before. The same thing happened on day 16 and 20. For some reason I thought that I was being touched by God and it did not dawn on me that it was the medication. I felt blessed to understand the bible so well. My doctor never mentioned anywhere close to what was happening to me to be a side effect. He also did not mention that my brain chemistry was going to be played with.
Just over five weeks after taking the medication I found myself in a mental institute certified mentally ill (I like to say insane). My whole family tried to tell the psychiatrists there that up to then I was perfectly sane up until I had started to take Topamax. They did not believe my family even though their own journals say that drugs must be ruled out before they can diagnose someone with the condition they believed me to have. Their reasoning was that they use Topamax themselves without this type of reaction and that i was not just a little crazy but RIGHT OFF MY ROCKER CRAZY. They simply would not listen to me or my family it was hell.
When my symptoms lessened and all I was was clinically depressed they let me out (no danger to myself or others just feeling like I would rather be dead). I spent six months in a depression so bad I could hardly move all while being under a psychiatrists care. She just could not figure out what was wrong with me or should I say that she already knew what was wrong, her colueges had already diagnosed me. It got so bad that I had to do something. So I went to google and typed in the key words of how I was feeling. The funny thing is is that most of my syptoms resembled what I felt like ten months ago and went to my original doctor. A miricle happened for me!!!!! In the ten months that I had been sitting in hell at least seven doctors had either talked to me or been responsible for my care. Not one of them could figure it out. But God did send me my own answer. I was Hypoglycemic and always have been.
Right away I started to eat properly. That means fruit, vegetables, meat, and limited dairy and complex carbohydrates. I said limited not excluded they are also very important for brain health. The first five days I lost seven pounds. I had blimped up thirty pounds while I was sick. I now feel great. I am even contemplating going to the gym before the next week is up (something that just two weeks ago seemed like a nightmare)
I should also mention that while sick I lost my house because I could not afford the mortgage payments (of course I was not working). I also had to give up other possessions some of which I loved very much (a horse). But now that I have my brain health back it resonates in my head that your health is everything.
I only post this as a warning, if I can help one person not to have to go threw what I did that would be great. So take your topamax if you must but I will not look for the easy way or quik fix ever again. I also have lost my trust in doctors, I am not saying to never use them just use a little common sense to.
If anyone has experienced the same sort of reaction to this drug I would love to hear from you. You can email me at
***@**** post your message urgent topamax. Thank you everyone I am sorry this message was so long it was as short as I could make it. God bless everyone of you especially those of you who so desperatly want to loose weight, I hope I helped.
So I started to take it (three 25mg tabs three times a day for ten days and then two 25mg tabs three times a day for ten days. Please do not use this information for your own use it is only mentioned for acuracy. Consult your own doctor if you want to take this drug). In the first week I noticed that I was feeling really quite good. By day ten the first unusual symptom happened to me. While I was reading my bible I started to cry. Now I must mention here that that has never happened to me before. It was just that everything I was reading seemed to have so much more meaning than before. The same thing happened on day 16 and 20. For some reason I thought that I was being touched by God and it did not dawn on me that it was the medication. I felt blessed to understand the bible so well. My doctor never mentioned anywhere close to what was happening to me to be a side effect. He also did not mention that my brain chemistry was going to be played with.
Just over five weeks after taking the medication I found myself in a mental institute certified mentally ill (I like to say insane). My whole family tried to tell the psychiatrists there that up to then I was perfectly sane up until I had started to take Topamax. They did not believe my family even though their own journals say that drugs must be ruled out before they can diagnose someone with the condition they believed me to have. Their reasoning was that they use Topamax themselves without this type of reaction and that i was not just a little crazy but RIGHT OFF MY ROCKER CRAZY. They simply would not listen to me or my family it was hell.
When my symptoms lessened and all I was was clinically depressed they let me out (no danger to myself or others just feeling like I would rather be dead). I spent six months in a depression so bad I could hardly move all while being under a psychiatrists care. She just could not figure out what was wrong with me or should I say that she already knew what was wrong, her colueges had already diagnosed me. It got so bad that I had to do something. So I went to google and typed in the key words of how I was feeling. The funny thing is is that most of my syptoms resembled what I felt like ten months ago and went to my original doctor. A miricle happened for me!!!!! In the ten months that I had been sitting in hell at least seven doctors had either talked to me or been responsible for my care. Not one of them could figure it out. But God did send me my own answer. I was Hypoglycemic and always have been.
Right away I started to eat properly. That means fruit, vegetables, meat, and limited dairy and complex carbohydrates. I said limited not excluded they are also very important for brain health. The first five days I lost seven pounds. I had blimped up thirty pounds while I was sick. I now feel great. I am even contemplating going to the gym before the next week is up (something that just two weeks ago seemed like a nightmare)
I should also mention that while sick I lost my house because I could not afford the mortgage payments (of course I was not working). I also had to give up other possessions some of which I loved very much (a horse). But now that I have my brain health back it resonates in my head that your health is everything.
I only post this as a warning, if I can help one person not to have to go threw what I did that would be great. So take your topamax if you must but I will not look for the easy way or quik fix ever again. I also have lost my trust in doctors, I am not saying to never use them just use a little common sense to.
If anyone has experienced the same sort of reaction to this drug I would love to hear from you. You can email me at
***@**** post your message urgent topamax. Thank you everyone I am sorry this message was so long it was as short as I could make it. God bless everyone of you especially those of you who so desperatly want to loose weight, I hope I helped.
My doctor started me on one a day for a week. I'm on week two taking two a day, 50mg. Next week I go up to three a day, 75mg then the 4th week I go up to 100mg and stay at that. So far I feel great. No big side effects. Some fatique. Diet soda tastes weird, but my appetite seems to decrease at the onset of the upped dosage then it levels off. Has anyone had that affect? I need to lose weight. Didn't know Topomax was a side effect until I found this message board. Any comments would be helpful.
I'm a migraine suffer, my fourth week tonight I up to the full 100 mg. I still feel alittle tingling sensation but its not as bad as the beginning its hardly there. my appeitte has decrease...which is good because I do want to lose the extra weight....the third week of topamax was really bad for me I was so naseaous I thought I was pregnant for a minute....but it went away. I sometimes do feel like food is the most disgusting thing in the world...I think Ive lost about 6 pounds not much but theres a difference in the the pants....haha! i HAVEN'T HAD ONE MIGRAINE YET! thank god...
I started taking Topamax 8 months ago. I weighed 122 at the time. The first week I took it I had my normal Migraine for two days. I remember feeling really sick over the weekend as well. By the next week I had lost 10 pounds. I had been eating normally (we were in the process of moving and having to stop at fast food places for every meal). Within the first two weeks of starting Topamax I had lost a total of 14 pounds, I was down to 108. I didn't really notice the 10 pounds the first week until I went to put on my regular work clothes the next week and they didn't fit anymore! I had stepped on the scale, but thought it was broken! By the second week, nothing fit. I would walk by the mirror and not recognize myself. My face was really withdrawn looking. I did have a lot more energy, getting up at 4:00 or 4:30am every morning. The tingling in my hands and feet went away after the first month, eating a banana every morning helped with that. My hair thinned out quite a bit. I couldn't really afford for that to happen, I'm only 42. But the worst was the 'fog' I felt like I was in when it came to remembering anything. I used to give speeches in front of 80+ people every week. Now I had to bring up my 'speech' and read it word for word just to get through it. I couldn't remember any part of it.
It took my Migraines away completely, which was a relief.
After the first few months I noticed weight started to creep back on, which was okay by me. I didn't like my bones sticking out. I finally decided to go off of Topamax, and noticed that I have regained about 10 pounds altogether. I have heard about the weight being put back on once you stop the medication.
I guess you have to ask yourself if you're taking Topamax mainly for weight loss, do you plan on taking it forever, because most likely, the weight may come back. I'm pretty 'active' and try and eat right, and it still didn't help the weight from slowly coming back on. It defintely feels like something you can't control, just like the weight 'loss'. Also, is it worth it to have your hair start to fall out, and the constant confusion, loss of words, generally feeling, and sounding 'stupid'? For me, it wasn't. Even though I lost the weight, I felt drained and weak when I tried to ride a bike, or go up stairs. I had 'energy' meaning I didn't have to sleep as much and was up bright and early ready to go, but when it came to using that 'energy' to do something 'athletic', energy certainly didn't mean 'strength'. I felt like an old lady.
If you're taking it, I hope you have somebody looking after you in case you don't notice yourself 'going downhill'. When I first dropped the 14 pounds, I was excited at how easy it was, but my family, friends and coworkers were almost horrified. Skinny doesn't necessarily mean 'healthy'. You still have to work extra hard to build back up the 'strength' and muscle, and take lots of extra vitamin supplements as well. By the way, I was only up to 100mg per day.
It took my Migraines away completely, which was a relief.
After the first few months I noticed weight started to creep back on, which was okay by me. I didn't like my bones sticking out. I finally decided to go off of Topamax, and noticed that I have regained about 10 pounds altogether. I have heard about the weight being put back on once you stop the medication.
I guess you have to ask yourself if you're taking Topamax mainly for weight loss, do you plan on taking it forever, because most likely, the weight may come back. I'm pretty 'active' and try and eat right, and it still didn't help the weight from slowly coming back on. It defintely feels like something you can't control, just like the weight 'loss'. Also, is it worth it to have your hair start to fall out, and the constant confusion, loss of words, generally feeling, and sounding 'stupid'? For me, it wasn't. Even though I lost the weight, I felt drained and weak when I tried to ride a bike, or go up stairs. I had 'energy' meaning I didn't have to sleep as much and was up bright and early ready to go, but when it came to using that 'energy' to do something 'athletic', energy certainly didn't mean 'strength'. I felt like an old lady.
If you're taking it, I hope you have somebody looking after you in case you don't notice yourself 'going downhill'. When I first dropped the 14 pounds, I was excited at how easy it was, but my family, friends and coworkers were almost horrified. Skinny doesn't necessarily mean 'healthy'. You still have to work extra hard to build back up the 'strength' and muscle, and take lots of extra vitamin supplements as well. By the way, I was only up to 100mg per day.
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