Topamax

Has anyone had any experience with topamax. After 20 years I've tried just about everything, both mood stabilizers and antidepressants. My valdoxan / lamotrigine / benzo isn't working like it was. Anxiety, anger and depression getting worse, locked in dark room for days facing no one. Triggers increasing. Sleep is ok. Eating I'm not good at, but ok.

Not interested in food, so loosing weight not needed. Ive done the putting on dozens of pounds then spent years losing it. Still ive tried the meds to see if theyll work. Nothing seems to work long term. Bipolar is a moving target, but it seems to be moving faster the older i get.

The topamax is something I haven't tried, and is generally well tolerated if lamotrigine is well tolerated as both carry the same rash risk. It has little effect on liver, kydney or thyroid which is a huge bonus.

I'm also in DBT therapy.

Experience / ideas?

I used to be on it. It acts a bit as an appetite suppressant so that is a plus but read on here recently that it can effect cognitive functioning. Which in hindsight is probably true, lol. I never had any major issues on it but also didn't feel it did much for me. But I was on a low dose.

I was on it recently, by my request.. My doc referred to it as "dope-a-max" because it kind of makes you dumber and makes you less of a critical thinker. It's more known for its weight loss effects than it's known for helping with mood.

OMG I was so stupidfor the week I took it!

I was on it originally for migraine prevention. It does affect cognitive function, though.

I tried it for migraine prevention but couldn't tolerate more than 25 mg without some side effect I forget now. But it did help with sleep. However I no longer need it (am on plenty of very sedating clozapine) and when we tried to stop I stopped sleeping through the night. I don't lower meds in the summer because of mania but when fall comes if I'm relatively stable I'm going to get off it even if I have to break my tiny pills into 4ths. I've been on it for 4 years at a subtherapeutic dose and my body just needs to adapt. (If migraines get worse I'll go back on but it is not really helping mood).

Stay near a bathroom in case you get the gastric side effects. I had to quit taking it for that reason.

I hope it works for you with no side effect issues.

I took it over 15 years ago. It worked for me without any cognitive deficits. This is just before going to a pdoc for my prescriptions. I then found other meds that worked better than this one. I wanted a different MS in place of Topomax that I chose but the selection of psychotropic meds in Mexico is rather limited, like behind a dozen years.