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Welcome to the world of Topamax!

Fri, 03/09/2007 - 09:36
Hi All! Well I am new to all of this...new to this community and new to epilepsy. I refer to all it on Super Bowl Sunday Mayhem...kind of silly...but that is when I had my first seizure. I am only 23 and it came out of the blue. The sickest I have ever been is when I had the the flu really bad...I have only spent one night in the hospital when I was little...I had the slightest clue what to do. A month later...including blood work...a CT scan...five more seizures...stroke like symptoms...an EEG...an MRI and SO ON AND SO ON the doctors figured it out. Thank goodness. Anyways...I started my wonderul medication journey as postive as I could on Lamicital but got the one side effect I could---the dreaded rash (that was HORRIBLE and really scary by the way) and was taken off that... Now I am on Topamax. Has anyone gotten numbness in their lips? It is the weirdest thing? I have been reading all the other forums for the past few days about the other tinglings in the hands and feet and have all of that too, not to mention the extreme forgetfulness and memory loss. It doesn't help when you are a journalist and you have to remember words to write stories! HAHA! Luckily I have the most understanding editor in the world with a...um...CRAP...forgot the word...oh...sense of humor....a BIG sense of humor. While I think of the words that I forget...he just sits blankly and says UM UM UM...You can do this...haha. I am only 6 weeks into this new world of epilepsy and medication and any advice or tips anyone can offer would be amazing and greatly appreciated. I know I may not be able to offer profound advice or superb information, but I might be able offer my support! P.S. I am so bummed that my taste buds went from this stuff too...COFFEE...my STAPLE tastes like crap...how are journalists supposed to function without that! haha...(Don't worry, it's decaf!)

Comments

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Welcome to the world of Topamax!

Submitted by bex on Tue, 2007-03-27 - 13:07
Heather Thanks for this, it really helps and stops me from thinking I'm not going crazy! I am eating a banana a day at the moment and will see how it goes! Off to see the Neuro on Friday, anticipate the Topamax will be going up really want to stay with it for now even though diet coke and costa coffe sales have gone down. Best wishes from sunny England Bex

Re: Welcome to the world of Topamax!

Submitted by Lizbeth on Sat, 2007-03-17 - 11:56
Hi there! New on Topomax as an add-on because my seizures were not completely controlled by Tripleptal. (Failed on Keppra and Lamictal before that.) I'm really hoping this is the thing for me. At least I have a better idea of what to expect and I know that others are going through the same thing. On the bright side, sounds like I'll save $5 a day at the local coffee shop when I lose my taste for it! :-)

Re: Welcome to the world of Topamax!

Submitted by RenaGrl808 on Tue, 2007-03-20 - 02:04
I Was On Topamax For A Year. I Had Terrible Numbness In My Hands & Feet. It Was Very Bad. It Happened Almost Every Day. I Got Off of Topamax Because I Could Not Handle The Numbness. The Side Effects From It Was Hard To Handle. I've Had Epilpesy Since 2000. I Have Not Found A Medication That Controls My Seizures or A Medication That I Can Handle. It's Very Hard To Deal With.

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