Welcome! I am sorry that you are suffering from migraines. There are a lot of medication out there now for migraines. You have to find the one that works for you. My daughter took topamax and could not tolerate the side effects at that time. She was going numb from it. Doctors kept telling her the longer she takes it that the numbness will go away but she was tired of that numbness feeling. I know several people who took topamax and it was successful with it. I wish you the best!

I'm sorry that you've felt so bad for 3 months. You can take the Topamax during the day. I take mine at breakfast and bedtime. You should ask for a sumatriptan to try and break the headache. I would take it or get the shot from your doctor. Then you can go to bed and sleep for a few hours, the shot or drug works better if you can. If that doesn't keep the headache gone then you need to find out what your triggers are. I would also think about seeing a headache neurologist. I'm seeing my 4th neurologist in April. Hope you feel better soon.

I also am on generic Topamax at breakfast and at bedtime, but it didn't stop the migraines until I got further treatment along with it.

I have to ask if you are seeing a neurologist because most neurologists that specialize in migraines and have you coming in to see them for migraines wouldn't have you using "Excedrin when they [migraines] got wicked bad." They would have you using a prescription migraine med when they get started because they are harder to treat when they get "wicked bad."

For me, Topamax never prevented migraines by itself. But in conjunction with other treatment it apparently helps and potentially may break up the migraine patterns. What my neurologist that specializes in migraines told me is that he wanted to break up the pattern of migraines as too often they begin to run sometimes for days, or like me actually went every day for a year. My HMO didn't refer me until I started showing up too often in the Emergency E.R. with extreme migraines and was losing memory. Then they referred me to the neurologist that specialized in migraines (and not all neurologists specialize in migraines).

So the neurologist put me on Topamax and slowly built up the dosage. I can't go to a high dosage because I can't tolerate it and the lower dosage works best for me. He also developed what I call a "migraine cocktail" that I take when I get a migraine and it is:

1 prescription 100 mg. sumatriptan tablet (Imitrex) for migraine
2 over the counter Aleve (enhances the sumatripitan action)
1 prescription 10 mg. Metoclopram (stops nausea and vomiting)

I started with Occipital Neural Blocks (ONB) for years until I became allergic to the lidocaine that was used in them. Then I moved into Botox more than a year ago and it has worked far better than the ONBs. I do get some migraines but no where to the extent I did before.

My migraine was associated with elevated blood pressure and the customary triggers increased it, nitrates in food, change in sleep, lack of exercise, weight gain, stress. Have you had blood work, blood pressure testing and other work to determine if there is another cause.

Welcome to you! There are some posts on a separate Topomax spread that will give info. I posted my experience as well.
I hope you get relief soon!