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bipolarmedstudent · Apr 04, 2012, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morethingswrong

OK heres my Dilema ...

Im Bipolar I and have tried a boat load of medications .. Caused a weight gain of 40lbs very quickly .. Yes I watched what I ate but regardless the weight piled on .. I have been trying very hard to lose this weight but the scale refuses to budge. IM getting very depressed over the weight gain I cant just say " im fat and stable and the tradeoff is worth it"

Im currently on Lamectal and Haldol and Inderal to counteract the extreme restlessness caused by the haldol. The haldol is causing my fibro to flare up so bad im in tears every day ..

I recently stopped taking my haldol daily now I take it maybe twice a week so I know for a fact haldol is causing my increase in pain.

I have been researching medications to bring up to my Pdoc and Topamax is one Im interested in due to its weight loss properties ... I have no Health insurance and have no idea what the cost of this medication would be .

Does anyone have an idea about this med good or bad ? cost of med? any info would be greatly appreciated .

Thanks

I believe I suggested topamax to you a while back. It makes most people lose about 10-15% of their body weight, and works better (as a weight loss drug) for heavier people.

The thing with topamax is that it really isn't a good drug for bipolar. It helps with certain atypical bipolar presentations (like ultradrian rapid cycling -- people who have mutiple episodes PER DAY). It's also great for migraines. But it really shouldn't be used by iteself for bipolar. And lamictal isn't going to be good enough for Bipolar I. I really think you need to take lithium or an antipsychotic with it. You need a strong anti-manic agent on board, since you're bipolar I.

Have you ever tried geodon or abilify? They are both fairly weight-neutral, and would give you the anit-manic effect you need. You could switch from haldol to geodon or abilify, and add topamax.

The other problem with topamax is that it can have a lot of side effects. It can cause parasthesias (pins and needles) which since you already have fibro maybe isn't the best thing. Also, it can cause kidney stones. And it makes you stooooooooooooopid. Seriously stupid. I have a friend who took topamax for migraines and it made her so dumb she actually had to stop taking it!

On the plus side, it MAY help you with the restlessness feeling. Topamax is being studied recently for things like tics, OCD, hair-pulling and other movement disorders so it *may* help with the restlessness feeling. Or it could make it worse.

Personally I think you are probably better off taking tramadol if possible. Treats your fibro and helps you lose weight.

But I'm interested in your replies. I'm looking into taking topamax myself to treat my tics/hair-pulling/OCD. What's holding me back is the cognitive side-effects. I can't afford to be stooooooooooopid.