scared to start topamax, again

My headaches have gotton so out of controll, I am going to start taking topamax agian. I"m so scared. last time I have a lot of relief with the headaches, but I had kidney stones, and congnitive changes.

I just started a new job, and I don'ot want to have confusion, or miss work b/c of stones. what should I do? I just got it fill, but I'm afraid to start it.

any advice?

After a very painful bout of kidney stones triggered by topamax, I've been under the care of a urologist. He's got me on potassium citrate, but that was only prescribed after urinalysis to find out exactly what the topamax was doing to my kidney function. Apparently it does different things to different people, so don't assume my meds will work for you. If you can, I'd recommend seeing a urologist to get recommendations to prevent future stones. (You can get the same effect of the pottasium citrate by eating lots of bananas, but I'm not sure how many -- probably at least 3 or 4 per day -- at least it won't hurt!)

The other thing you can do on your own is drink huge quantities of water. Upwards of a gallon a day, if you can. The more you can keep your system flushed out, the less likely the stones are to form. My urologist thinks that, even more than the potassium citrate, is why I haven't had any repeat stone problems.

I don't know what say about the confusion. I'm getting less help from my current dosage of topamax and am thinking about talking to my doc about upping my dose, but also am wary of the cognitive problems. I've had a lot fewer side effects than many on this board, but I've really noticed some memory problems. But I guess that's a trade-off I'm willing to make if I can get some pain relief.

Best of luck,
Mark

Thanks for the replies. I did take it at night, had horrible dreams, and for example, I would lose my way home(i'm now making deliveries for a pharmacy) couldn't follow a recipe, would be angry and cry a lot, felt like I was going crazy.
I can deal with the stones, I think I'm most scared of the "going crazy" part, but then again, I"m going crazy with the migraines right now as well.
I just don't know which is better.
Thanks you all,
Ang