new to topamax and extremely terrified

I can't tell you whether to take Topamax or not, so I will just share my experiences with you.

I found the Topamax extremely helpful in terms of mood regulation. I am a strange mixture of Bipolar II and Complex PTSD (which isn't officially recognosed yet). It kept me fairly stable. It also knocked out my frequent migraines and nightmares, which was a blessed relief.

However, even at 25mg, I got the memory and thought process side-effects. I give legal advice over the phone for a living, and I found it difficult, even with my years of legal training, to complete sentences and "find words" to explain things. I adjusted to it fairly quickly, but it was disconcerting. I was also drowsy and slow a lot of the time.

I took Topamax for 6 months and was up to 125mg per day before I came off it. I had a perpetually sore scalp, some hair loss (but not a great deal) and memory damage that has persisted, even though I haven't taken it for more than a year.

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck.

Like the other reply, I can't tell you how to take it, I Can give you my vast experience. I've taken it twice now. Once when it was first introduced to the market outside of it's original use as a seizure control medication for migraines 7 years ago and have been back on it 3 years now for a second time also for migraines.

What I can tell you is that each experience is different. I had word finding problems when I took it 7 years ago and couldn't add even simple numbers for about a week until my mind adjusted to it then but I was on a rather large dose and I don't recall being put through the step=up that I was required this time around. once I did adjust I was fine, even with steps up in dosages. On the very rare day now, I'll muddle words up but it's never such a problem that it effects anything big which given my line of work (court documentation) could if I didn't pay close attention to detail when working. I did last night make a blunder in wording that ended up being a running joke among the youth I work with in our community. (I doubt I'll be living that one down for a while).

I will say, this time however I've had a long-running effect on appetite. It's sometimes annoying yes, as it almost feels like a mind form of nausea at it's worst but honestly it's rarely awful and I've never thrown up from it. I have lost close to 40 lbs while on it but keep in mind that if you don't do something to maintain the weight loss your body will adjust and bring it back...

The first few weeks on it I Was pretty tired, my advice to that would be, lay down and sleep if you can, don't fight it. Fight it just sucks that much more out of you later and when you do crash you won't wake up as easily as you might need to. Once I settled into it, I was fine. I sleep better now than I have in years. In fact I enjoy taking naps frequently because I can and still be able to sleep now now where as prior to it I had been suffering from not only the migraines but a long running battle with insomnia that robbed me of all sleep as well that was systematically wearing me down.

Thank you for responding. I feel somewhat relieved that it can have an entirely different and less negative effect on people. I had been afraid that it would affect me in a severly negative way.. I shall find out soon how my body reacts to it.
Thank you again, your respnonses are much appreciated