Oh wait - I did just think of another question… okay, I just started taking it yesterday… 25 mg 2 times per day… but my psychiatrist wants me to call him WEEKLY in regards to titrating my dosage upwards… is this the usual course of events? Have other psychiatrists dealt with the dosage this closely? Thanks.
Yes, but I started with 100mg. at bedtime, then was increased to 200mg. @ bedtime and that is enough for me. It makes me drowsy enough to sleep and that is the only effect that I feel from it, really, Punky. Don’t wait around for weird side effects. i don’t think that you will have any.
I know I could be WAY OFF BASE here, but I have to ask… has anyone experienced “taste differences” while taking Topamax?
I am having an odd, odd thing happening to my sense of taste and the ONLY thing different in the last few days (since this taste thing became an issue) is that I have begun taking Topamax…
It might not be related, I know, but the timing is dead on… things just taste odd now, and not in a good way.
Seriously, not that I can recall.
I have also never lost weight on Topamax, but I am the weirdo, aren’t I? I must be Marilyn from “The Munsters” LOL!!
That’s the ONE side effect I would be fine with having 
When I first started taking Topamax ( for Migraines), I experienced a loss
of appitite, and also statred having the wierdest tastes in my mouth, all
foods tasted odd, but especially soda-pop. I love my Diet Coke, and it tasted
simply horible… it almost made me gag to taste it. So, you are not alone in
this, lol!
************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
Aabout Topomax side effects: As always, some people don’t get any of them. Some people may notice only 1, such as drowsiness (one reason it’s often taken all at at night). Some people may get a mixture of them, th some degree.
The list contains the most TYPICAL aide effects encountered by people who take Topamax and actualy GET side effect. There are other possible side effects, but they are generally considered to be common to all anticonvulsants.
Some are from the official “PI sheet” from ORTHO-McNEIL NEUROLOGICS, INC, the manufacturer: http://www.topamax.com/topamax/assets/topamax.pdf.
Some are only anecdotal, some both anecdotal and “official,” some are both. .
Without further ado, here they are. And, as usual, YMMV.
A pins & needles effect that usually goes away after no more than a week or two.
Weight loss and appetite suppression - but please note that not everyone gets this side effect. Sodas and other carbonated beverages will utterly taste like ass, so you may as well give them up now if you’re considering Topamax.
Memory loss, aphasia (weird words coming out in place of what you meant to say or write), word find problems (not being able to recall the names of people, things or concepts), and a general cognitive impairment that has earned this drug the nicknames “Stupamax” and “Dopamax.”
As Topamax typically makes you really sleepy and has a long enough half-life, you can usually get away with taking it all at bedtime.
Please don’t ask me about “half-life” I only “sort of” get it – but it’s related to how long the med stays in your system.
so, for what it’s worth, that’s what i’ve read.
peace,
c.
OH MY GOD RECIE - this is EXACTLY when I first noticed it… DIET COKE began tasting horrible two days ago… I started dumping them down the sink!!! Today, I made the babysitter and my children drink Diet Cokes in front of me so I could gauge their reactions to it… I’m not kidding…
Oh, are we TWINS?!?!?!?!?!?
Thank you for that response… in such a strange way, I feel so much better! (Not that I want YOU to suffer like I am - I just appreciate someone understanding my pain!!!)
UM, See, did you say will utterly taste like a##… hee freaking hee hee hee hee hee hee hee haaaaaaa or I’m sorry, should I say hee haw hee haw hee haw
Oh, and another thing, darn it, I forgot what I was just going to say… and that’s been happening much more frequently too - oh wait… my kids told me to STOP TALKING today because I WAS NOT MAKING SENSE (they actually said those exact words “Mom, don’t talk to us, you don’t make sense when you talk today”) and that is the first time EVER they have said that to me… I was shocked into silence after that comment… 
Once again, i can’t take credit. The items listed with the > are direct quotes from – go ahead, try to guess – Jerod at crazymeds. I find it amazing that he can write about these not-funny things and make us laugh. What a gift.
Have you been having any marked difference in your dreams? Again, may not happen to you, may happen in a different way. A lot of people report dream changes with nearly all of the anticonvulsant. Of course, not everyone gets this.
Happened to me, right after i started. My dreams became much more vivid than they had been before, and were always related to conversations or events or feelings from that day; only presented in a strange way. but obviously about what i was thinking or feeling.
it’s almost always “negative” events, and i will wake up frightened or crying like a baby, or all curled up in a ball, rocking myself back and forth (and i don’t usually sleep that way). This morning when i opened my eyes and looked at my room – everything looked strange, like i’d never seen it before and was not “my stuff” i was in an absolutely “foreign” place. I watched as it “morphed” into familiar surroundings. And that took more than a couple of minutes.
very, very unsettling.
but, hey, never a dull moment, tight?
peace,
c.
See, now I totally get when you type a wrong word, and it’s not just hitting a wrong key per se (sometimes it is, but not always) like, never a dull moment tight… I have been doing stuff like that for two days - oh, I’ve already become tired of having people look at, treat and speak to me like a moron… I’ve not had trouble speaking, thinking or remembering in this type of way before… it’s really odd, and I’m glad I don’t have to explain it, because some of you understand already, and for anyone who doesn’t, be glad, seriously. I’m still mad… one of my friends was going to bring me a kiddie swimming pool full of ice cold Coca Cola and let me bathe in it and drink it if I so desired but now I know it would just taste like a## (for more than one reason ha ha ha), so why bother? sigh… I haven’t remembered any dreams to comment on that part, though…
Man, it’s not just soda that’s not tasting so good… I’m really disappointed… but now I completely understand how people are losing weight with this medicine… if most things taste this way, then why bother eating???
I have noticed it’s impacting the way more and more foods taste… it’s not just carbonated beverages anymore… I wonder if I should call my best friend and tell her NOT to take me out to eat today… I fear it would be a waste of her hard earned money
You know what’s really silly is that they use this for a mood stabilizer, BUT taking away nearly all enjoyment of food and drink just darkens my mood… I don’t live to eat and drink, but I certainly used to enjoy it.
So… I wonder if this side effect goes away ever??? Have any of you heard, or do you know from personal experience?
Just go! The company is way more significant than the food. I don’t know about temporary vs permanent. sorry.
hugs, c.
You’re completely right, See, thanks!!!
(Not only were you right, See, about the company, but we had the best waiter I have had had in my life - fun, entertaining, interesting, and excellent to the point of me wanting him to be my personal waiter for life should I ever dine out again 
He was THAT good! Amazing… usually I can’t wait to get home!!! My friend was very good to me, and didn’t make too much fun of me when I struggled to find words, or inserted the wrong words in sentences (at one point I said porkchop instead of football and I could not tell you why!!!), or pronounced words wrong - she admitted it was shocking for her, as I have never, ever had this problem before in my lifetime. The food was fairly okay (by this, I mean I could tell my taste was impaired to some degree, but not ruined completely)… I got a little cocky after the meal, and bought a Cherry Coke, which I ended up spitting out in the parking lot because it tasted like garbage flavored with skunk juice, but, hey, I can’t win 'em all!)
I tried it for several months and didn’t really get any results—it definitely lived up to it’s nickname “dopamax”. I keep trying to go to college and I saw a definite decline in my thinking process and my memory…so then my doctor switched me to Keppra, but after about 3 months, it doesn’t seem to be helping either so I’m tapering off it right now.
It’s really frustrating to find the right drug. I started seeing a pain specialist about two months agao, who is concentrating on my headaches and it seems to be helping, but we’ll have to give it some more time to be sure—it doesn’t last the whole month, so since it works but only for a short period of time, they may try burning those nerves in my neck and shoulder area to kill the tension and pain that lead to a migraine, but everything I’ve researched on this says that it works for a while and then the nerves grow back, so I’ll have to see how much it helps and how long i lasts.
Keep up the search—there has to be something to help.
Best wishes,Patty.
I am very saddened, disheartened, frustrated, and angry to say that my psychiatrist is taking me off Topamax… I am tapering off starting today… though I am in agreement, due to side effects which are affecting my life, work, family, etc., how awful it is that I will begin my 20th medication in the next week… this is so very upsetting to me… I would like to give up at this point… now I remember why they diagnosed me as having TREATMENT RESISTANT DEPRESSION last year
But I’ll be glad to have my taste, speech, thinking, and memory back… if they come back in any way, shape or form (and not that they were by any stretch perfect at the beginning of this medication trial!)
Anyway… I appreciate everyone who has chimed in with advice, knowledge, education, and stories on Lamictal and Topamax as I went through these trials over the last several weeks.