Topamax making me feel completely stupid? Really need help please!

I have only been on Topamax for about a week but the increase has been very quick (3 days at 50mg, then 3 days at 100mg, then 3 days at 200 mg) anyways my job is an English tutor. I can't even function normally. I don't even know if what I am typing on here is coming out clearly and honestly this is taking a lot out of me to get it this clear. When I start a sentence I have no idea where it is going to end up and forget where it started, sometimes I forget what my student had said to me and have to ask them to repeat themselves. My job is starting to suffer. I know I need to give this medicine more time but how can I get through this? Any tips? What can I do? Will it go away?

Oh I am on this for anxiety/depression/repetitive obsessive thoughts

I have been on Topamax for years and have never had this side effect. but maybe it is too fast of an increase for you. have you discussed it with your pdoc? what you wrote came out just fine by the way...

Been on it for 5 months at 400 mg for bipolar I notice bit of slow down on cognitive skills such as thinking and reacting skills. Tingling and sodas taste flat but so far lost 30 lb and my moods are ok.

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From what I have read all over the internet this is a pretty common occurrence. People complain a lot about this medication making them feel "dumb" or not being able to think properly. I did specifically ask for something to numb my anxiety or thoughts but I do need to be able to process information for my work and I can't seem to focus on even the most basic of task. I am really trying to push through and give this medication time before giving up on it but it is so hard when my job is beginning to suffer because if I lose my job then my life will be over.

From what I researched I know "stupid" is actually quite common side effect of this drug. I mean, it's not nicknamed Dopamax for no reason, eh.

if you are willing to try alternative treatments, give a shot to Bach essences. White chesnut remedy in particular is very helpful to intrusive thoughts. worst that can happen you waste 10 euro.

Is it bad to stop a medication like one week after starting?

If you got the dumbs from topamax it's not going to go away most likely. Some people don't get the dumbs at all, some end up on the retarded level. Most end up in the middle. At least you know you don't function normally, seems quite common the affected think they think fine when they don't. So at least you have that.

I had loss of recall that affected my writing when I took Topomax. I stopped taking the Topomax and then I was fine.

I took this for pain management. I too was very dulled down in my thinking, not really a good option for me either.
Perhaps it is as you say, too much too soon. But if you are having that side effect, I believe you will likely to continue to have it. It is just your body chemistry.
Talk to your doc...

My therapist nicknames it "Stupamax". I was on it for a little while then it quit working.

Gabapentin, nicknamed Morontin made me so stupid a guy called me a dumb bugger that I worked with because we had to make a delivery and I was like, what happens if they're not home? Dumb! My boyfriend at the time also called me a moron when I began measuring his foot without checking for the size on the bottom. I never thought myself a real smarty but I was at least slightly above average before taking these meds. Not anymore.

you can become sort of dumb feeling on a lot of different type meds , you see your brain was the problem, maybe running at light speed and causing first stress then anxiety then depression. So what the meds do is slow you down hence you feel dumb. Lots of people give up for this reason you cannot do your job the same. the med is not at fault its done what it was suppose to do slow you down. They don't make a med that makes you well and smarter , be cool if they did.

I was on 25mg for 10 days. I was unable to string two sentences together. Started loosing inhibitions. It was pretty horrid. I stopped taking it after 10 days and it took about 7 days for things to get back to normal.

If you need your job....... talk to your doctor.

You are not correct here. There are other meds to combat anxiety that does not have this severe effect, topamax is notorious for this and you can't seriously say it is the OP's natural state to be where the med puts them... you can feel better and not be totally dumbed down. Of course the med is at fault and probably not the right one for the OP. Meds are a personal matter, not a one size fits all.

I was started on 200 mg. It makes me feel nauseous. Sometimes side effects go away with time as you get use to it, sometimes not.

Apparently some people think dumb is the normal. I don't fall for the "you only think you are smart cause you were manic and delusional".

But some just value their brain because they can use it to help themselves not against themselves when they are in right state of mind.... or simply it's their brain is their money maker.

It dumbed me down when I was on it to the point I forgot I had already taken it & how much I was supposed to take . Long story short, I wound up taking too much in my confusion and the result was me wanting to go to sleep, but my body was shaking & twitching & jerking so bad that I couldn't! When it wore off, I flushed both bottles down the toilet! All I'm saying here is be careful with it, & talk with your dr if you have any concerns. You do know it's an anti-convulsant, don't you? I'm just wondering because I never understood why they use that for bipolar and anxiety when there are so many other meds that could have given me. To me, that's like taking cold & flu med when all you have is a headache.

Besides Lithium, there is no Bipolar med on the market.

All the other "Mood Stabilizers" are either Anti-Convulsants or Atypical Anti-Psychotics.

They figured these seizure and psychosis meds have dual properties, which are sometimes effective fo bp patient symptoms, so they RX it to you along with an Anti-Depressant, and voila!!

Bipolar meds!

There's quite a well known catch phrase I learned here on PC: "focus on treating the symptoms"

I think it probably caught on and spread when pdocs tried to explain why they RX seizure meds

Anyhoo, its partly why I choose to stay unmedicated after Lithium bombed out for me.

Yeah, I'm off meds too. None seemed to help. Personally, I'd rather take valium, xanax, ativan or klonopin for anxiety, but my Dr won't prescribe those. My old one did but changed jobs on me years ago.

I actually want to get Klonopin on an as needed basis for when things get really rough, thanks for reminding me to get them rxd tomorrow.

Sorry your dr's gone, I hate how dr's think asking for a benzo is drug seeking behaviour. That's stigmatization right there, by our very own healthcare providers.

I know right? I feel I'm being looked at like a junky trying to fix by my Dr. even trying to get pain med for degenerative discs, much less anything for bp & anxiety. So I suffer most of the time rather than feel I'm being judged!

Its really a huge injustice

DIDNT YOU READ THE BIT AT THE TOP THAT SAYS, LOTS OF DIFFERENT MEDS , JIMI stop scoring points , 2 post below yours both rubbishing TOPAMAX . I am generalizing of course most anxiey meds make you feel dizzy they are stopping you brain from wizzing round at light speed, they don't stop at the exact place you want them to stop , they usually take you past normal into the slow lane to give your brain a rest. There isn't a med made the going to do exactly what you want it to straight away.