Adderall XR & Topamax

Went to see the my Psych yesterday, and she was behind, so I got to see her husband. As he said he was "being the good husband and helping out." So I took advantage of the situation and got him to change my dexdrine and seroquel to Adderall XR 20 mg x 2 and Topamax 100 mg. I told him I was trying really hard to lose weight, my focus was crap, the seroquel stopped working, and I was sleepy all the time, and he went ahead and changed everything.

He did mention Lamictal, but then I informed him of the rash I developed. Since I have been going there for 7 yrs now, my chart is kind of thick, and that was one of the first drugs I tried, and he didn't go back that far...heh.

So either I'm going to be bouncing off the walls today, or super focused. Either one will be fine with me.

Ooooh, I wish I could get some Topamax. I so need to lose weight. I'm jealous! LOL

Thats crap!lol I keep trying to get my doc to give me adderall and she keeps telling me to wait but I have a week left b4 I go see her and I think she is going to give it to me then...I'm glad you finally got something to help you stay awake I know how hard it is to not be tired

Be careful with the adderall. It can throw you into mania. Just be on the lookout.

Trust me. I know.

This is like my 5th time on it.

The difference is that I know how to cope with the mania effectively now. *Klonopin/Deep Breathing/Tapping/removing myself from the situation*

And Amazonmom, I'm 100+ lbs over-weight for my height, so yeah, I need to lose some weight.

I told my doc(who just gave me adderall today ) that I would much rather deal with mania than this crap of sleeping all the time anyway so she decided to let me try it and hope to god it works!

Day 10 Update:

Topamax: Makes me feel like I've had a half of a frontal lobe lobotomy done. Processing time much slower. Need to add more RAM. Food starting to taste weird.

Adderall XR: I think it would actually work better if my brain did. I've only been sleeping around 5-6 hours a night. Sometimes I forget to eat.

Energy level still crap, but I'm on antibiotics since I have a sinus infection. Hopefully once that clears up I'll feel better.

Best part about coming off Dexedrine....blood pressure went down from 145/95 to 130/83.....woooooo.....no blood pressure medication.

Hi, please be careful with the topamax. I'm taking both Adderall XR and Topamax 400mgs a day. My husband calls it "Dopamax". My memory doesn't exsist anymore while I take this...it can be really horrible. Just wanted to let you know. Good luck!

So is it the Adderall or the Topomax that is causing the memory loss? Do you know which one? or both? I really want to try both of these, but I need my memory!

I would say it is the Topomax. I was on it and felt in a fog and always tired. It didn't help with weight loss either.

I think that its not the adderall b/c in just the 5 days I have been on it I have had a calmer head and such great focus,motivation,,,just a great medication for me so far so good on not kicking me into mania too

Be REALLY careful with Topamax. Were you weaned on to it or did you go straight to 100mg? If you did, that's shocking and I would be a bit concerned about your doctor. You shouldn't ever start taking it at a dose that high. Topamax is a VERY VERY VERY strong drug and while weight loss MAY happen, it is not a guarantee. I have been on Topamax for about a year to control my migraines. I started out with 12.5 mg per day and worked my way up over many months to a dose of 200 mg/day.

Yes, it does feel like you've lost part of your brain at times, and no, that doesn't ever go away completely. I take 100mg morning and night and even now, I forget simple words and my short term memory is crap. But my migraines are almost gone and for me, the trade off is totally worth it.

But...you also need to know that I haven't lost one itty bitty pound. In fact, I have GAINED 7. (I also take Cymbalta, which is also known for weight loss so maybe I'm just a freak?!?)

And yes, it does change the way things taste (in particular, diet soda) but you get used to it after a while.

Good luck and please, please be careful.

Feddy

When I was taking that much Topomax (I only take 50 mg twice a day now) I had a serious problem with word-finding while I was speaking. I struggle a little with that anyway, but with the Topomax it felt like there was a word every sentence that I couldn't come up with. I could picture it in my mind, but I could not speak it. It made me feel totally stupid.

I hope the meds work well for you QueenAccountant.

I had a similar problem when I was on Topamax. I was okay speaking but when writing I could not find the right words and began to have problems with spelling and such. This was a change for me because I had previously been a very good proofreader and wrote more clearly than I spoke.

Hey! I didn't know that about Topamax!!! I'm an R.N. and never even bothered to look it up when my Nurse Practitioner gave it to me for my migraines--she got all bent last time i saw her cause i wasn't taking it, cause they'd decided to stop filling the scrit (not on the WTC 9/11 formulary anymore)--she wrote I was "noncompliant", cause i wasn't taking it-
50mg in am and 100mg at night---damn!!! so i found an old bottle in fridge and started taking it again--found out my HMO would pay for it with a 7 dollar copay--
what's so important about it anyway? I'm 5 foot 3 and can barely keep 100 pounds on--I'm up all the time and stressed all the time---Naproxyn--works, Aspirin works,
Making myself puke works for a migraine--now i lost my vocabulary again--Hey!

that's why i lost my vocabulary for a while!!! I thought it was the seroquel, then the wellbuterin,
then the buspar--I hate these docs-Practitioners playing with my Neurotransmittors

I'll be fiddled!!!!!!Topamax "Noncomplian" oh yeah? I'll get her!!!!

Thanks people!!!

I know what you mean! I was put on Adderol 8 years ago after being wrongly diagnosed with ADD (it turns out that my depression and anxiety symptoms are the same as the symptoms for ADD) and I'd become hyper (I'm talking about bouncing off the walls, unable to focus on anything, hyper) once the Adderol wore off. Naturally I couldn't take my anti-anxiety med while the Adderol was in my system because it would knock me out (Adderol and Inderol/Propranolol are NOT compatable....I discovered that the hard way!).

Any update Queen Acccountant? How are you feeling?

Sure here's an update:

NO MORE DOPAMAX.

Went beck to Seroquel. It's amazing how my brain can actually comprehend various things once again, since I stopped taking the Topamax.

Long story short....

Last Wednesday, went to ER, thought I had Kidney Stones. No Kidney Stones, but did have a UTI and was extremely dehydrated.

Went to Psych on Friday, went back on Seroquel.

Brain function at 96%. Hopefully in a week or 2 I'll be back to normal.

Thanks for asking.