New CH.com Forum - Print Page

New CH.com Forum
http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies >> MISERABLE on my preventive! http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1323748788 Message started by ck on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 10:59pm

Title: MISERABLE on my preventive!
Post by ck on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 10:59pm

i started taking topiramate about a month ago, and i'm absolutely miserable. ive been pain free for about two weeks ( :) ) but i'm nauseous a good 90% of the time, repulsed by food and the smell of food even when i'm not nauseous, would lose my head if it weren't attached to my body, and now know the meaning of blinding rage. i'm a hot mess.

i'm only on 15 mg a day, so the dosage really doesn't get much lower. does topiramate make anyone else miserable? does it get better eventually? do the other preventives have such bad side effects?

i'm in between neuros and don't want to just stop, but can't go on much longer like this!

Title: Re: MISERABLE on my preventive!
Post by Eric Hanson on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 11:12pm

I cant speak for the topiramate but I am comming off of a 120 mg pred taper and am deffinetly experienceing trouble saying the right things and certainly get "hot" at the smallest things. I am also on lithium at 900 mg per day that according to the blood and my neuro too low to be thereaputic. My neuro also indicates that the lithium is more usefull at keeping me sane while on the ultra high doses of the stuff. I didnt have a manic episode so I suppose it did its job. That and opposite of your side effect of being repulsed by food I cant ever seem to get full. I am sure that durring the last two weeks I must have gained 20 pounds.

The CH's deffinetly make me more miserable than being a tired, drugged, irritable person all the time so I suppose the trade off is still better towards the drugs.

Hopefully this cycle will simply end soon and the preperation for the next can begin.

Good luck and I hope this helps a bit.

E

Title: Re: MISERABLE on my preventive!
Post by wimsey1 on Dec 13^th, 2011 at 8:59am

All preventatives have side effects. They represent a tradeoff. The question is: do the manage the CHs enough so the tradeoff is worthwhile? I'd rather feel sluggish from the verapamil than deal with unrelenting hits day, after day, hour after hour. As for the topamax, that wasn't my experience. And I was on much higher doses. I lost weight, as you may suggest, not from nausea but from the effect on my metabolism and a loss of appetite in general. I didn't like the holes it created in my short term memory. Anyway, I'd make note of all my symptoms and bring the notes with me to a doc appointment. But you've probably thought of that yourself. Blessings. lance