I take Topamax and have been for about a year now. Up until recently I've been taking 200 mgs a day. Its not been a miracle drug for me, I've still had constant head pain for 2.5 years, but the difference its made is I no longer wake up crying from the pain, I just wake up and can go back to sleep.

A few weeks ago when I finally saw the neurologist, he set me on increasing the dose. So every two weeks, I increase by 25 mgs until either the side effects become unbearable, the head pain goes away (unlikely) or I reach the max dose of 400mgs a day.

We've tried many many different drugs over 2.5 years and surprisingly Topamax has been one of the only ones I've been able to tolerate at all, with almost no side effects or at least no real bothersome ones.

Food tastes a bit weird and there's no way I could drink soda, but I didn't drink it before anyhow, so there's no loss there... my appetite is a bit iffy at times but that's ok and I'm on the "fluffy" side anyhow I think it has helped me not gain weight during my 2.5 years of inactivity. I'm the same weight as when I started, just have lost muscle tone, as I was fit and tone under my "fluffy" before.

Its unclear whether it affects my cognitive abilities or not, I had my neuropsych assessment while I was on a very small dose and scored very poorly and from what I can tell and those around me, nothing has seemed to change that much from before the Topamax to now, so if it does affect me, no one can tell.

I don't hold a lot of hope that increasing my dose will help my pain much, but I'm willing to try... I'm running out of options and fear I'm going to have to live with this head pain and I'm not sure I can. Its not a standard headache and doesn't respond as such, it seems.

Best of luck to you... I hope it works out for you!

Oh and I do occasionally get the "Topamax tingles" in my hands and feet, but drinking a glass of orange juice every morning seems to keep them under control.
Starr