Hi fightingmom,

I love the stuff. I started on it about 3 weeks ago. It is working great for me. I cant take any antidepressants so I have to rely on mood stabilizers. I take lamictal in the morning and started with the Topamax at 25 mg. The manic and depression seemed not to hit so hard. The doc raised it to 50 mg. Even better. I am on 100 mg. now but I havent started that yet as I have some more 25 mg left to take. I have had no side effects. My doc told me too that I would lose weight, but I only eat about every 4 days so I dont know about that. When I get depressed, I just dont even want to raise a fork to my mouth and am to unmotivated to cook or clean. I am very grateful for this drug. And you can go up to 700-800 mgs., where Lamictal you can only go up to 400 mg (my doc said), so I have a long way to be able to raise the dose. Best of luck with it.

Hugs,

Patty

Started it about 4 months ago, mainly to counter act the weight gain from Seroquel. It's been working, weight holding steady at where it should.
Not sure how it's affecting moods since I'm already taking zoloft and seroquel for that.
I'm on 50 mgs. a day and the only side effect that I "think" is from the topomax is everything tastes like cardboard. Guess that would be a good way to make one lose weight!

i have been taking it for 2 years now and i have lost about 40 lbs. i also take alot of other meds.. and i still lost weight.

i lost 60lbs when i first started taking it back in june but i was also really manic for a few months...since then my weight has not gone up but hasn't gone down either....i am one 150mg per day with celexa and still waiting ever so patiently for something to work better

Patty, I think your pdoc is mistaken. If you go to the Topamax website, the MAX recommended is 300-400mg/day for seizures (its less for headaches). And Topamax is used off label for bp. At 700-800mg/day I don't think you would have your mind left, LOL. The drug works wonders for me and I take 300mg/day. It also messes with my mind horribly, but I have to take the good with the bad.

I've been on Topomax for over 5 years. I started on it for nerve pain and seizures. When I started I weighed about 140 pounds (heavy for me because I had done back to back IV steroid treatments) and within 6 months I was 80 pounds. Scary.

Now, I'm on 300mg a day, along with Depakote, and have not gained any weight, in fact I have lost 2 pounds. (I gained about 15 pounds, I am 92 pounds now.)

I have gotten over the cog fog, but I also take 400 mgs of Provigil a day as well.

Good god, if I told you what else I took.....lol

just started topomax myself lastnight. am hoping it will also help with the weight i gained from littihuim. i had to get off that because it is killing my thyroid and i am gaining way toooooo much weight to quick. a hundred lbs in 8 months.