Topamax users...Is it common to be

Avatar for missyflanders
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Topamax users...Is it common to be
5
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 2:22pm

tired when your dosage is increased?...I am exhausted this week. Please tell me that it does not last forever. I LOVE the decrease in appetite but can not deal with the exhaustion.

Missy

 
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 2:30pm

Hey Missy,

The tiredness/sleepiness stayed with me...I had to start taking all mine at night...however, when you do that, you lose some of the appetite suppression, cuz you don't eat in your sleep...but I have to be able to work...and I couldn't...now, I'm more sensitive to meds, so maybe it will go away for you. I know some people who are able to function during the day on it...others not. I guess you have to wait and see, ya know? But, it IS a big side effect of the medication. Do you take a whole 100 in the a.m.?

Hang in there.

Love...

Avatar for missyflanders
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 4:12pm

I take 100 in the morning and 100 in the evening. I'm also PMSing and not following a gluten free diet so it could be a bunch of things with me right now. I will give it a little more time. Thanks. Hopefully it will lighten up a little soon. If not, I will have to give pdoc a call. I am understanding what you mean by not being able to finish sentences etc with it. Does that go away?

Missy

 
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2004
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 5:35pm

hi missy...

sorry to hear you're having trouble with your topamax since it's such an awesome drug. i never had any trouble with it making me tired. but at first it did make me pretty "dumb", like i had trouble remembering simple things, adding simple numbers, just feeling silly and dumb in general. that's why it's called "stupamax". but that side effect goes away. at least it did for me. we take the same dose at the same times during the day, so i hope this helps some.

Avatar for missyflanders
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 7:16pm

Like I said, I am not so sure it is the topamax, so I am not ready to give it up. I am hoping it is just PMS type stuff going on. I am not very regular but have a lot of the signs and it has been 6 weeks so I am thinking that is what it is right now. Plus with the marriage stress and other things going on, I have to give it a chance. Thanks for saying it did not make you tired, that is encouraging. I went and tanned today and got a giant diet coke and felt much better, so maybe it was a mood thing.

Missy

 
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 03-20-2006 - 11:07pm

Around the time I started Topamax, I had something strange happen...I got so exhausted I hardly had the energy to get up, to walk, even to comb my hair. I even had to borrow a cart to get my groceries out of my car because I literally couldn't lift them!

I don't know if it was related to the Topamax, since I asked my doctor and she said she's never heard of anything like that happening (this was my general doctor, though, and not my psychiatrist)...but I couldn't think of any other cause, so I'm still not sure.

But it did go away after a while...and with further dose increases, I didn't notice that much of a change. Except when I started taking half the dose in the morning, and then I was "out of it" and drowsy and just "blah" all day...so I switched back to nighttime dosing and was fine.

But I do have to add the disclaimer that I'm very sensitive to med side effects...even my doctor is amazed sometimes. The exhaustion from the Topamax, though, I've heard can be pretty common...but maybe not to the extent that I had it.

(I hope this post made sense...too much studying and now sleeping med has fried my brain!).

--R

Edit: actually, to give the more positive side to this story...after a while on the Topamax, I didn't notice any problems energy-wise, or mentally either (though I was taking it for migraines, so I'm sure any non-migraine-clouded thinking is better than what I had!). I wish I hadn't had to go off of it...I think it really helped my moods too...just the nausea and lack of appetite got to be too much for me...




Edited 3/21/2006 12:10 am ET by rosa444