Considering Topamax

Hi,

I have been a migraine sufferer for over 30yrs.  Recently they have increased a lot. Last Friday was the worst. I must have vomited 20times and was in such severe pain that I ended up in emergency. Had a shot of Demerol and Vistoral and went home to try sleep it off. I awoke the next morning at 10am. feeling bruised,depressed,but not in pain,thank goodness. I have considered taking preventative meds before but never have now I'm at the point were I need to. I am having migraines way to often and I'm SO tired of them.

I will be seeing my Dr this week. can anyone tell me what is the common doseage of Topamax to start with and is it Topomax or Topamax? Thanks

Hi Susan,

Welcome to Healing Well. Kymark has given very good advice here as you cannot be too careful with drugs like Topamax. At the end of the day always discuss these things fully with your Doctor!

I am so sorry you have been suffering so much with this and I hope you and your Doctor can find a way forward that will bring some real relief for you!

take care

Ann

Hey Susant,

Welcome to the boards.  I saw your first post on Topamax, and got a lump in my stomach.  Topamax was absolute POISON for me.  I started on a small dosage, but titrated up to 400mg!!!  I literally got permanent brain damage from this medication.  I lost a lot of memory function (especially short-term), cognitive abilities (couldn't form thoughts or express them), couldn't complete sentances, etc...Just basically brain mush.  I stopped this medication over two years ago, and a significant amount of damage is still with me.

I am so thrilled to hear that your doctor didn't put you on Topamax.

Metoprolol is in a class of medications called beta blockers, which work more with your blood chemistry, rather than your brain chemistry.

Give it a try for a while and let us know what you do.

Leigh Ann

Well. I want to throw in my 'TWO CENTS" worth. Topomax has been a dream drug for me once I got through the initial phase in part getting used to the drug itself and the dosage. I rarely have more than two migraine in a year anymore. The one I have right now is due to the fact that I let my prescription run out and didn't get it filled for four days!! Bad idea but definitely my mistake! I certainly won't do that again! But, it has truly helped my life become liveable again.

Thanks everyone for all your support and advise. I have a migraine again today,the same one since last night. Imitrex didn't work.so when my husband gets home later I will go get another shot. Is Dalludid a medicine I can get at the ER  instead of demerol? although I do like the way demerol works and agree I seem to be having rebound headaches.I had the ct on Monday,no results yet. although I'm positive these are ususal migraines.

anyone know how long before the Metropolo takes effect? I started them last Friday.

thanks

Susant

hi there susandt, sorry you have been through all this. It's amazing to me to see how all the meds work diff. for everyone. I have had migraines since I was twelve. never this bad thought. I have had a bad case of migriane since late Oct. last year. And like everyone I tried topomax. Hate it it I started at 25mg and by the time I stopped taking it I was at 250 mg. The neuro kept switching my meds from demerol-imitrex-zortig-threee other that I can't seem to remeber. anyways none of them worked for me. I started on moday with butblt(butabital) generic for foricit. It made my headache worse. Now I had nausea and still the pain would not go away. I left a msg to my neuro yesterday. I'm still waiting for a response. I have stopped taking my meds and have focus on a better diet and working out more. I'm not feeling as bad but the headache is still there throbbing on my left temple.
I have done numerous testing (mri-ctscan) and all have been negative I now feel that unfortunatly there is no cure for migraines and until you find the right med that works with your bod you will be fine.
I really wish you the best. take care
-BAM2007

Hello Everyone: I new to the forum, but it found it last night when I was looking up something that happen to me. For all of you whom get migraines. I'm 44 years old and I've been getting migraines since I was 6years old. I have suffer over 38 years and I have had all the test and you name it. It is really hard to find a doctor that really knows about migrains and the pain it causes and the time a person can miss from work with them. about 4years ago I meet a really nice lady whom it an RN and she was on disability for her migraines, she started getting them right after she had a hyster. I'm not a great speller so please exuse me. Anyway she gave me a name of a migraine doctor in Baltimore MD ( I would be happy to give the information to anyone that live around that area.) This is the best doctor I have ever had in my life, very understanding etc... I started to get nerver block in my head, yes they hurt,but when you are already in paid it just does not seem to matter. These blocks helped me a lot, but it is not something that you can get on a regular basis. Research has found that taking medicine that people take for seizure have help people with migraines greatly. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give out name of medicines so I'm leave that part out. I tried these, but did not seem to have any luck with them. My doctor said that she wanted to try botox. I started getting botox injections about 2years ago. I go every three months and I get about 30 injections in my head. These injections don't hurt to bad, but it has been a mircle for me. I have not had a full blown migraines. I did have a bad period last year about this time and had a migraine for 2 months so the doctor changed the area based on where my pain was coming from. My paid is more on the left side. I have just found out that botox is not something that you could do for the rest of your life, because it can break down muscle tissue and since I get the injections all along the my head down my neck I have to be carefull because I have a fusion in my neck. Well there is more help out there for us migraines suffers. There is a plastice surgeron in Georgetown, MD which is in the Washington DC areas he speciality is never pain and damage. The surgery for migraines is decompressing the nevers in the front of you head and then if you still are having problems you would have the nevers decompress in the back. My girlfriend has already had the surgery on the front and now she has to have the back of her head done. She also has a tens unit inplanted in the back of her head which helps with pain. The success rate for this surgery is 90%. I have already had a meeting with the doctor and he wants me to have the surgery. I'm not going to jump on the band wagon right at this moment, because I was on disability for 5years because I have had over 7 back surgeries and I just found a job that I can do without going into an office, but I"m going to have it done within this year. I would be more than happy to give anyone the name of the doctor, but you would need to have another doctor that has worked with you with your migraines to send him information. The surgery is one day and just 10% of people did not have any relief, but they did not get any worst. This is what I do when I start to get a migraines. 1. Ice pack on my head, 2. Dark room 3. Dont' move a musscle and it I can I will get in the shower when I know it is coming and let the water run over my head. I have been to so many emergency rooms for migraines that it is not funny and most hospital do not understand the pain or they think your there for drugs. I have one hospital that I go to and when they see me they take me right back. If you get migraines do not take over the counter pain medicine for them. I did this for years and this can cause you to get rebound headaches really bad. I don't take any over the counter medicine. I really feel for all of you that get migraines and I've tried everything that is out there. The only thing that has every helped me to be headache free is the botox. Before then I had headache everyday!!!!!! I hope that this information will help someone and that maybe you can talk to your doctor or find a nero doctor that will really work with you and try to understand your pain and find out what will help you. In the beginning it is hard to find the right combination, but I know that there is hope after 39 years. I have tried Topamax twice, the first time I started having sever pain in my feet I did not know it was from the medicine, I thought it was either from all my back surgeries and it was nerve pain or spur, or it was my tarsel tunnel coming back that I had surgery on. I finally ask my doctor about it and she said that it could be the topamax so she took me off. I was some what upset, because I thought this was going to be the mircle drug I was waiting for over 38years, plus I know several people that have taken it has lost lots!!!!! of weight. I was hoping that would be a side effect for me, since I have gain a lot!!!!! of weight from DRUGS when I was going thru my 7 back surgeries. After I was off most of my meds for my back my doctor tied the topamax again. For about 2 1/2 months I have sever headaches and I have hives like you would not believe. Sent me to the hospital several time. They could not figure what the hives were from so I stopped all my medicines. Still had hives so my doctor thought it could be strees/nerves so she put me on Xanax. I have not had any hives since. So I really don't know if it had anything to do with Topamax or not. I know that lady that works in the office where I go for my mirgraines has been taken topamax for a long time and she lost lots of weight, but it caused her to have very bad kindey stones and she had to have surgery. Doctor took her off the Topamax right away. I'm like everyone else. I think you just have to try out things to see what is best for you. I highly agree with the taking to much of pain medicine, because it will give you re-bound headaches. If you have to go to the ER more than 2 in one week ask them to try several other type of meds first before going for the pain meds. I have had some many pain meds that it is like eating candy for me and it take a lot for me to even know I had a shot. For me the Botox has been my mircle and I'm looking into the surgery.