Posted by Madge on January 26, 2003, at 21:55:05
In reply to Re: Topamax Experiences?, posted by myfairlady on January 26, 2003, at 16:10:05
I have had headaches taking Topamax. I started getting them at higher doses though and they usually lasted only a day and weren't quite as severe as the ones you described. They certainly felt like pressure building in my head though, and were bothersome enough that I worked from home and knew I shouldn't drive. I got one headache for a day when I titrated from 75 mg to 100mg, which was accompanied with pretty severe somnolence for a about a week and a UTI. (That is also another side effect of Topamax so stay very hydrated every day!!! I make sure I drink plenty of cranberry juice every day) This last week when I titrated up to 125mg I had a fairly severe pressure headache for one day preceeded by just one day of sedation, and now I feel like a million bucks. I don't know what dosage I will settle in on, because I am taking Topamax for weight loss to counteract the gain on remeron, and I haven't started losing any weight yet. The weight loss starts anywhere between a dosage of 100-200mg. The key to mitigating the side effects on Topamax is titrating very slowly. 25mg at a time, and having a VERY good, compassionate, accessible pdoc. I know for me, that I have had to adjust everytime I titrated ie there were some side effects, severe somnolence was the most prevelant, occasionally some cognitive dopyness, then I would adjust after a few days, and I felt fine. But I knew that everytime I titrated I would have to allow myself some potential down time in case I didn't feel well, and be ok if I couldn't follow through with plans I had made. All in all, the side effects for me have been pretty minimal on Topamax, and I wish you good luck as well.
I am also taking 1gram of fish oil, and 800 iu of vitamin e a day. The purpose of the Fish oil is two fold: There has been research indicating that at that level it acts as an antidepressant, and two, Topamax is constipating, so the fish oil helps that.
There is also a really good thread on Topamax that was started in Dec 2002,(One woman in particular who wrote in who was also on Lithium and Topamax), and others earlier in 2002 that were also helpful to me when I started taking this drug.
Why are you adding Topamax to your regimen?Hope this helps.
poster:Madge
thread:50878
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030125/msgs/137686.html