Comments on: Topamax Lawsuits

By: Johnnie

Johnnie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:40:58 +0000

My son is 11 years old and has been on Topamax now for about 4 months, the side effects are seriously affecting his normal daily activities. He has missed so much school because of the side effects and severe miagraine headaches. he takes 150mg daily, has lost 20lbs, starting to have memory laspes, speech problems and also this medication causes his body NOT to sweat. Now the school system he is in, is going to hold him back because of his medical problems, and they say they will modify his work load, havent seen that yet either, what happened to the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT, the right to a free piblic education?

By: Patricia

Patricia — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:08:51 +0000

I muxt be one in a million that has not had the problems that I have read about. I have been taken Topamax for 4 yrs. This is the ONLY medication that has helped me NOT have migraines. I tried the generic but had migraines again. I am so sorry that other people have had so many problems with this drug. But that is like Vioxx, the only drug that helped me with Arthritis and Seldane-D. I must be wired totally different. If topamax is taken off the market I pray I can get my hands on plenty first,

By: Miss Rice

Miss Rice — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:58:47 +0000

I started taking Topimax when I was about 19-20 now I am about to be 27 over this span of years my dosage started @ 25mg and was last at taking about 300m a day. I could tell that there was something wrong I to experienced the numbing and tingling of my hands and fingers couldnt sleep at night. I have started to forget alot of things that I did just a week ago, but the thing that scared me the most was my emotional change I started having thoughts that no one cared and I would be better off dead seeking was to be done with life. If it wasn’t for my boyfriend I probably would be dead by now I would go into medicine cabinets and cry but he would stop me. Then I would sit in my room curled up in a ball and cry my eyes out becuase I did not know why I was feeling this way. Arguing with my familly and him I was too emotional.I lost my brother in 2006 and thought that my feelings were because of him and continued to tke the medicine. Afraid of what was going on I started have anxiety attacks and was depressed for no reason my boyfriend and sister even thought I was BiPolar so I decided to sek help and called Psycologist (whom I see to this day). He never asked me about meds or anything and I never once really thought about it until it became more serious. My close friend started taking them and I noticed her doing some of the same things crying, mood swings and anxiety so I tried to stop takiing I have severe migrianes and this seemed to be the answer. After reading everyones response of how this medicine has it affect it scares me it wasn’t me it was the medication. Like most of you said yeah it helps you drop the unwanted weight I went from 298 to 240 in about 4 mnths. But I can feel it coming back on fast as I lost it. So this is just a small warning pray hard while taking it because I now am still going to have migraines and now I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety I have been placed on Short term with no date to return.

By: Cris

Cris — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:47:33 +0000

I was on this drug for 7 months at 25mg twice a day. It makes me feel like throwing up when I read these posts. I am 35 and I will never be the same. I came off the drug in 2007 and have never fully recovered. I have permanent muscle spasms and I am sure that I have some permanent neurological damage. I really wanted to have another baby, but after all of this I wouldn’t even think of it. I fought long and hard and thank God for my husband, but just this past Thanksgiving I started to get my confidence back. I blamed myself for so long for taking this medication and I feel very guilty for putting myself in so much danger when I have two little girls to raise. The makers of this drug know that it is poison! The best thing we can all do is to tell EVERYONE WE KNOW NOT TO EVER TAKE THIS DRUG!!!!!! I will say a prayer for everyone that has posted here. Just take one day at a time and focus on the good stuff. Husbands, friends and family, please be supportive and patient.

By: Judie

Judie — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:20:38 +0000

I was put on Topomax in Jan 2010 and am now being weined off from it Feb 19th 2010. I had been gradually worked up to 50mg a day for migraines. I would rather have the migraines for the rest of my life than feel what this medication made me feel. I have the memory issues, I was having a hard time passing tests on paper but the , wt loss about a pund a palpable tests I could pass, I can’t climb stairs without being winded, I feel weak, I can’t sleep, I don’t want to go to work, or school and I love both my job as a Medical Assistant and my Massage classes. I have neuropathy in my legs and feet, I have no taste for food nor do I want to eat, my eyes are changing, I am shaking alot, but no headaches. Now I was not told about all of the side affects or I never would have started this medication; Further more, Now that I am weaning off this crap I am having other issues like abdomon pain and kidney pain. This medication literally was killing me, It is poison to your system and it takes a person awhile to figure out the medication is what is doing it, because while it is taking care of the migraines it is messing with your body and your emotions.

By: Charline

Charline — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:30:58 +0000

I took Topomax for migraines about a year and half ago. My eyesight has never been the same. I see tracers, flickering lights and have blurred vision. I have been to several doctors (including a retinal specialist) who all tell me there is nothing wrong with my eyes! I would never have taken this drug if I had known I would suffer vision impairment.

By: pants

pants — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:24:40 +0000

May I shed some positive light on this drug? I do not wish to make any attempt to negate the horrifying experiences related ere, but I want to show that this drug can work for some people.

I’ve been on this drug for migraines since April 2009, and it’s been a sort of miracle drug for me. Before I got on it, I couldn’t function. For some reason, I constantly had a migraine aura, and would get the headaches at random points (every single day). I would be disoriented, confused, and unable to function at all. I flunked out of college and lost my job.

My doctor started me on a very small dose — 25mg. That didn’t do anything except make my fingers tingle, so after a month or so, he increased it to 50mg. At that point, I regained a large part of my cognitive abilities, the confusion, disorientation, and aura went away. I still got headaches too often, but not every day.

Instead of taking my pills in the morning, I was advised to take them before bed with a snack. When he upped my dosage to 100mg (once at night and once in morning), the snack part became crucial, because if I took them awake and on an empty stomach, it felt like I was in a lucid dream (then again, I also suffer from narcolepsy).

At this 100mg dose, I have some trouble finding words sometimes — a side effect that my doctor completely warned me about. Also, I eat about half as much as I used to, which is good for me, because my condition keeps me from being physically active (it triggers migraines). I have not lost one pound, though. My fingers still tingle, but not as bad as they used to, and it’s nothing I can’t deal with.

Every time I have consumed alcohol while taking this drug, I have woken up in the morning not feeling so nice. I think the warning labels say “reduce or avoid drinking,” so do that to the best of your abilities.

Doctors rarely warn you about the side effects of these drugs because they make money by prescribing them. I’m lucky enough to have a doctor who tells me EXACTLY what I’m getting in to (on a side note, I went into an appointment once with a face rash, and he had me tested for lupus because he has ’suspicions’ that one of my other drugs might cause lupus). Luckily, my reaction to Topamax was not a negative one like so many of these. I wish you all better luck with this stuff.

By: betty

betty — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:13:05 +0000

have been taking topamax for7 years for migraines, and am experiencing vision problems,tingling in arms and fingers,suicidal thoughts and attempts.

By: chrissy

chrissy — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:58:55 +0000

This is to Mama…How dare you say that most of us are not telling the truth who the hell do you think you are most of us took it for a medical problem not because we were over weight sorry i watch what i eat maybe you could try that.I was on 300mg so yes they do give high doses maybe not for you because you just wanted to lose what sounds like much needed extra weight or am i just exaggerating(by the way this is the correct way to spell exaggerating)maybe the topamax is starting to effect you.I’ve been through everything these poor people are talking about im glad you havent but shame shame on you for your lack of empathy maybe your perms to tight.By the way im never a rude person im one of the kindess people you’d every meet but because of what ive been through with this drug and to know that theres so many still having to suffer breaks my heart and then people like you which dont get me wrong have a right to their own view point but to come out and basically call us liars like i said shame on you didnt your mama teach you if you dont have anything nice to say dont say anything at all MAMA

By: Claudia

Claudia — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:04:40 +0000

February 12th
2010
1:27 AM
55 yr old female; in approx. April 2009 I was put on Topamax for bipolar to assist my Trileptol. I had been pretty stable prior to that except for a very mild, recent depression over my living conditions, which changed for the better a month later.Trileptol, Welbutrin, klonapin, and Ambien had been my perfect mix. During a 9-month period, I grew more and more agitated and anxious. I became extremely paranoid because I couldn’t finish my thoughts while talking and friends said that I had changed. I withdrew more from years of frequent church activities until I quit completely, my vision became extremely poor (still is), my hair began to fall out at an alarming rate and I lost 17 pounds within just a few months, which was the only up side. In October of 2009, for no apparent reason, I felt I wanted out of life and prepared to over dose on all of my meds. I just didn’t know why I was so overwhelmed. I called my fiancé, then he called rescue and I stayed in a behavioral ward for 10 days. They increased my dosage (50mg) to 75mg 3 days before I left. When I got home, I had an all out anxiety attack. I realized it could be the Topamax so I stopped the one and continued the 2 at night. I had been having terrible nightmares in my restless sleep. During my 3rd attack, I was escorted back to the hospital for 13 days. I refused them all together and now I’m back to restful sleep and I feel fantastic except for my blurry vision and my gradually subsiding alopecia. I’m just glad I had the sense to reach out before it was too late.