![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Gabrielle on October 20, 2000, at 9:28:29
I just started taking Topamax yesterday with 25 mg a day for a week than up to 50 mg until I see my doc again. The first day I took the topamax I was first alert than I got nauseuos (however it's spelled) I made myself throw up. I had to go home half a day at my temp job. I didn't go in today not knowing how I would feel today, I know when changing meds the body needs a few days to get used to it. I take Depakote..gained almost 100 pounds, only thing that seems to help, tried almost everything else, take celexa, neurontin, to sleep, and zanax for anxiety. I need to lose weight...I'm so depressed from that, I'm 5'2 and do not hold weight well...does anyone know if I could get off of Depakote since I'm starting Topamax..any other med? thanx
Posted by Gabrielle on October 20, 2000, at 9:29:32
In reply to topamax, posted by Gabrielle on October 20, 2000, at 9:28:29
> I just started taking Topamax yesterday with 25 mg a day for a week than up to 50 mg until I see my doc again. The first day I took the topamax I was first alert than I got nauseuos (however it's spelled) I made myself throw up. I had to go home half a day at my temp job. I didn't go in today not knowing how I would feel today, I know when changing meds the body needs a few days to get used to it. I take Depakote..gained almost 100 pounds, only thing that seems to help, tried almost everything else, take celexa, neurontin, to sleep, and zanax for anxiety. I need to lose weight...I'm so depressed from that, I'm 5'2 and do not hold weight well...does anyone know if I could get off of Depakote since I'm starting Topamax..any other med? Oh by the way, I'm bi-bolar... thanx
Posted by tdaneen on October 20, 2000, at 11:01:18
In reply to Re: topamax, posted by Gabrielle on October 20, 2000, at 9:29:32
I don't know about the depakote, but I can give you an important piece of advice about topamax. I myself take it, and it took me much longer to reach the 200mg level. I ended up cuting my 25mg tablets into halves or sometimes quarters depending on the severity of the side effects I was having at the time. This is something you might bring up to your doctor. Doing this lessened my side effects, and I was able to reach the dosage that my doctor wanted me to be on.
I also am a shorty (5'1") I worry about weight gain and have only been able to lose weight when I stop taking my meds (I'm bipolar also). I know that one of the WORST things for me to do is stop taking my meds, but that is a difficult thing to do when I am also recovering from an eating disorder too.
Best of luck.tdaneen
Posted by Sharon J. on October 21, 2000, at 15:09:50
In reply to Re: topamax » Gabrielle, posted by tdaneen on October 20, 2000, at 11:01:18
Hi. I am "nosey" about Topomax, too, and admit that I do not know about Depakote/Topomax and getting off it safely. I can tell you that I was on Depakote for a long time, along with other meds that had "weight gain" side effects, and I gained 178# in about 16 months. When I got off the old meds (got a new doc) and he put me on Topomax, I lost a great deal of weight from both eliminating so many weight gaining drugs, and from adding Topomax. In late January, while on all my "old" meds, I topped the scale at 299#. Late March, I changed docs and meds, and since then I have been losing weight successfully. Last week, I weighed in at 243#. But I do want to say that I had a very hard time with 25 mg increases, and had some other awful complications while taking it (which may or may not have anything to do with Topomax at all, which I need more information about and will carefully reconsider before I let my doc put me back on it), and if I were ever to agree to take it again, I am going to talk to my Doc about my cutting the 25's in half as the last writer suggested. I got to 150 mg and the side effects were awful, and the 25 mg steps up to reaching that 150 mg mark were harder and harder and took me more and more time to "adjust" to each new dose. Bottom line for me is that once I got to 150 mg, it was more than I could handle from side effect aspect at the rate he was increasing it, and when other complication arised at the same time I was taking it, I asked him to take me off it for now so that I could get "stabilized" again.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.