Posted by Jet on October 13, 2002, at 16:52:50
I have been taking Topamax for over a year. At first, the medication worked great for a few months. I felt as if I had come out of a coma! Before the Topa, I had tried many AD's and they did not work for me, so my pdoc thought that this would work and he was right, it did - I was back the way I was in my 20's: laughing, cooking, cleaning all without having to force myself to do these functions.
I have mood swings, what used to be called PMS - now I think they call it bi-polar. I really don't know because I not only have a chemical imbalance but my hormones aren't right either. I just don't feel very well much of the time, with ups and downs. I feel heat in the back of my neck most of the time - which the Topa does help. Before the Topa, I could feel the "bad time" lifting - my thoughts would improve and my head would clear as the day went on and that would last for a few weeks and then the dark days would gradually take over and last for a few weeks and then it would start all over again. My OB doc labeled it PMS a few years back and removed my ovaries, along with everything else, telling me that without them, my PMS would go away. That was many years ago. So, now I do have hormonal imbalances as well.
My point is, I have been on the Topa for a year and it worked great at first, then slowly began to "poop" out. I was on Dexedrine at the time and have been for the last 3 years. I usually take 2 daily - even though my script is for 3 (5 mg each dose & some days I skip and don't take any).
The side effects from the Topa have been: dry eyes, no sex drive & sexual dysfunction, drying out of joints, worsening of arthritis (all over), weight loss of 30 pounds, dry scalp, aggressive behavior in the early days, trouble falling asleep, cognitive dulling: cannot remember things, trouble finding words, dulled thinking in general.
I recently tried to go off of Topa and did it very slowly - I was up to 400 mg and have been going down in 2 week intervals. I am now down to 300. My problem is that I am now worrying all the time - and that is not normal for me. I am unable to get in to see my pdoc for 2 more weeks so I am going to go back up to 350 of the Topa to see if that helps in the meantime. I am driving my husband nuts though. I am way too clingy to him and needy. It is not like me to be this way. What is going on? In my head I am thinking too much and over-analying everything and I do not do this normally. I used to go into a depressed state during my "bad times" and even just go to bed, not caring what happened around me. Never did I worry like this or act like this with him - it's very strange. Is this anxiety? I could use some advice here. Is this a side-effect of coming off the Topa?
I have also wondered about staying on a lower dose of Topa and adding something. I am leary of coming off of it now. The main reason I am going off of the Topa is because it is drying my joints out so badly and also because it seems to make me a bit more stupid than I should be - :)
My problems as of right now are: I have a very hard time thinking clearly at times - which makes it very difficult because I have a job that I work at 40 hours a week. At times I could just sit at stare into space and have trouble getting motivated to do things. I don't feel really depressed about things, I just am not motivated to get things done. I feel at times like I am not here and cannot focus on what is going on. The other day I took 1 1/2 a Dexedrine for the first time and it did seem to make a difference. Maybe I just need to talk to my pdoc about a change in dosages. I was also thinking about adding something to the mix, but I don't know what to ask for?
I currently take:
Topa 350
Dex 5 mg 2X daily
Ambien 10 mg as needed
Provocol 40 mg dailyI am not sure what to do here and would appreciate input from any of you. And please be gentle with your responses - I am in a very tender place right now.
PS - I used to have a song in my head all the time - It is now gone. I am serious - I would go around singing or humming all the time and didn't even realize it. I no longer do that and it makes me sad. What is my brain trying to tell me?
Thanks for taking the time to read this and help me. I do not post very often, but do read posts all the time and apprecaite everyone in here very much.
Jet
poster:Jet
thread:123499
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021012/msgs/123499.html