NeuroTalk Support Groups - Topamax and suicidality?

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- - Topamax and suicidality? (https://www.neurotalk.org/medications-and-treatments/30174-topamax-suicidality.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tovaxin_lab_rat (Post 197331)

I have been on Topamax for migraines since 2002. I love it! I take 400 mg a day and have no side effects except some tingling around my nose and my fingers. I take Urocit-K (potassium citrate) to counteract that side effect.

You can go to topamax.com and ready about the adverse reactions or side effects as there are many that are listed for each clinical trial that this drug was tested. It is used as an anti-seizure med as well as for migraine prevention.

I know it has been the only medication that has helped me and I have been through them all. It doesn't work for everyone and there is a dosage for everyone if it is does work. 400 mg is my dose. 375 is not enough and 450 is too much.

You have to titrate up, and the best time to start is at night. Increasing your dosage is best done at night. And it's not a good idea to cold turkey stop this drug...side effect is possible seizures. But when it works, it's a great medication!

I am just ecstatic over being migraine free for the first time in my life! It's the little things in life when you have a chronic illness....no migraines are one of the things!

Hi-Thanks for sharing your story. I also had great sucess with Topamax, but had to go way down to 25mg/day after having 2 large kidney stones. My neurologist is convinced it is from the Topamax, so now I am on Potassium Citrate 1080/day(about 2 weeks now). I can't sleep, my appetite is terrible, ( I could go on and on), but I'm wondering if your neurologist has ever made the Topamax connection or if you had any significant long-term side effects form the P. Cit (and, of course, the migrainess are back-15-20/month.)
Thanks and write back if you see this and have the time!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonio (Post 832153)

I also had great sucess with Topamax, but had to go way down to 25mg/day after having 2 large kidney stones. My neurologist is convinced it is from the Topamax,

I'm inclined to agree. My neurologist (migraines only practice) offered me Dopamax, and handed me a sheet with a HUGE (literally half the 8½ x 11 sheet) WARNING (not Caution) of kidney stones caused by this drug. This was at a time when the patent was about to expire, and the mfr. was desperate to find a new market (and argument for extending its patent/s). After investigating it further (this is literally the scariest drug I have ever been prescribed - bar none) I declined. It is the ONLY drug I have ever refused to even try, and my migraines were chronic at the time (more than 15 per month) and, on occasion, sent me to the ER.

I know it works for many people, and I'm glad they are getting relief, but I am still concerned about its longterm effects.

This thread is several years old now, but to answer its original question:

Quote:

Has anyone experienced increased suicidal urges when taking topamax?

The answer is a resounding YES. Google: topamax suicidality

Even their own website has had to acknowledge this fact:

Quote:

TOPAMAX® may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in a very small number of people, about 1 in 500.
http://www.topamax.com/tools-resourc...formation.html

Doc

I Was on 15mg. After a week, I could barely stand to breathe the depression was so bad. And the overwhelming desire to kill myself was, and still is disturbing. Even now, and I've been off it for two weeks and feel great--I wonder if how terrible I felt about my life and self could have possibly been purely a drug reaction. It felt so real. I wasn't hallucinating. I just looked at the life I had and thought, "Nope. It's better for everybody if I just disappear."