Posted by headachequeen on November 1, 2004, at 20:36:32
In reply to topamax and balance, posted by rainy on November 1, 2004, at 20:08:28
> The neurologist told me that my increasing loss of balance was probably due to the Topamax. I have a smoldering bunch of neuro symptoms left over from a peripheral neuropathy that had me in clunky braces for about three years almost 20 years ago. These seemed to be getting worse, like staggering, lurching and dragging my foot, weaving around and generally appearing drunk, so I went to this nice doctor.
> He said that Topamax often makes any neorological problem that you already have worse and gives you problems that you didn't have before you took it. He agreed that of course the balance issue was pre Top but he thought it was worse because of the medication. He also said that if I stopped it, and he thought I should and take lithium or something else, "there are lots and lots of drugs out there," my balance, handwriting and "ditziness" would improve.
> But I would sure hate to say, yeah, your ankle is weak because of the Topamax. I'm not sure I believe him about this neurological stuff, because this neuropathy is a come and go kind of thing and I think this is just one of the times it's revving up. I really wish I didn't feel I had to tell doctors everything they want to know.
> rainy
>Oh, wouldn't it be lovely if we could blame all our problems on Topomax or a medication of choice.. of course, i would blame them all on Tegretol <eveil grin>
I have days when I am unable to achieve balance but it cannot be as a result of taking the Topomax because I have even more days of achieving balance...
those unbalanced days follow the seizures as a rule... and even more often come when my blood tests show a low level or no level of Potassium. Apparently we need the stuff to maintain some sort of balance even though it is a trace element... for a former teacher and a radio announcer/dog trainer I am learning a lot about stuff I really don't want to know...I, too, have to question the idea that Topomax makes any neurological problem worse, else what is the point in using it to overcome seizures, and that is its main and first reason for existence. All the other uses that have been found are side effects really...
My handwriting/penmanship has days when it is disgustingly embarrassing as in earlier today when I wrote down an address and the 9 in 1919 appears to be another 1... thanks to the miracle of modern technology I was able to look up things on the internet and found out it is a 9 and will be going to the right address when the time comes...
and the specialist I should be seeing has a receptionist who does NOT take topomax but has a serious case of ditziness and messed up the appointments so I am referred to another surgeon to arrange to have the necessary stuff done in this century ... do we suggest that she start taking Topomax to overcome her memory lapses???
she definitely has a cognitive problem but we cannot blame it on topomax, so not every problem is topomax induced...
Meanwhile at other times my penmanship returns to its normal acceptable levels... and I can print like a fiend, something I learned in college...
along with the wondrous poem
I eat my peas with honey
I've done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But it sticks them to my life
- the benefits of education, printing and the wonders of poetry...
See? Topomax has not affected my cognitive skills; my husband often wishes it had as I learned other poems in college... all about on a par with that one, the purple cow, and various nursery rhymes that I love to drag out to entertain our guests...
topomax attacks cognitive skills? he keeps hoping I have to take more of it... LOLIt is too easy to blame it all on Topomax and jump to another drug...
I have been doing some field research of my own...
if I change the hours that I take the Tegretol.. oh do I hope that my doctors esp the neurologist do not subscribe to this board ... I do not have as many of the problems that have been plaguing me... I know better than to suddenly stop taking it entirely... that would cause total chaos in my life, chaos that the topomax alone cannot handle...
but taking a minimal amount in the morning and the rest of it when I go to bed, as in all the rest of it, means that I do not have as much of the horribles that were tagging along...
it is not the Topomax that increase the neurological symptoms in my case for sure...
it is the Tegretol so would someone suggest that I stop taking it? Of course not...
Have I considered stopping it? Of course I have...
I am trying to find the journal I kept for a while with the hours we found that worked... and then will follow those hours...
for a while I tried doing without Tegretol sticking with the topomax... for two daysI had no chaos in my life...
so it is not the Topomax necessarily that causes the imbalance and the nausea and the 'generally appearing drunk'
kat the caped crusader for topomax
poster:headachequeen
thread:5053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041029/msgs/410351.html