Has anyone had success treating their migrains with Topamax?!
Question: Topamax has worked really well for me and has a really good track record for reducing migraines in lots of people I've talked to and people in my family. You have to take it every day though, as a preventative medication and you still may occasionally get a migraine now and then, but where as I used to get 2 or 3 a month, after starting topamax I only got one maybe every other month or so, so it was a massive help.
The side effects are different for everyone, but are usually not bad at all. One side effect that many people experience is weight loss, not because it alters your metabolism or anything, but it makes some things taste different to you. For instance, my sister can't drink sodas anymore because they just taste horrible to her. 2 sisters and my dad lost about 20 lbs since starting topamax, but unfortunately I didn't get any kind of side effect like that... O well. Since I write for a living, one effect I was warned about was that you can experience a mild drop in cognitive abilities (lots of 'tip-of-the-tongue' loss for words and such) and I definitely felt that so my dosage was dropped down a little and everything came back to me.
Otherwise topamax is definitely worth trying. The pros absolutely outweigh the cons. It significantly reduced my migraine numbers and I feel functional again. I don't think there is a cheaper version of it available or anything quite like it out there, but if this ends up being the only medicine you need for migraines (even if it's a $35 or $50 copay) it's worth it to feel normal and function again and not have to pay 6+ times a month for imitrex (which for me eventually stopped working at all). Combine that with a generic pain medication for the few times when a migraine may break through, and you should be fine.
Answers: Topamax has worked really well for me and has a really good track record for reducing migraines in lots of people I've talked to and people in my family. You have to take it every day though, as a preventative medication and you still may occasionally get a migraine now and then, but where as I used to get 2 or 3 a month, after starting topamax I only got one maybe every other month or so, so it was a massive help.
The side effects are different for everyone, but are usually not bad at all. One side effect that many people experience is weight loss, not because it alters your metabolism or anything, but it makes some things taste different to you. For instance, my sister can't drink sodas anymore because they just taste horrible to her. 2 sisters and my dad lost about 20 lbs since starting topamax, but unfortunately I didn't get any kind of side effect like that... O well. Since I write for a living, one effect I was warned about was that you can experience a mild drop in cognitive abilities (lots of 'tip-of-the-tongue' loss for words and such) and I definitely felt that so my dosage was dropped down a little and everything came back to me.
Otherwise topamax is definitely worth trying. The pros absolutely outweigh the cons. It significantly reduced my migraine numbers and I feel functional again. I don't think there is a cheaper version of it available or anything quite like it out there, but if this ends up being the only medicine you need for migraines (even if it's a $35 or $50 copay) it's worth it to feel normal and function again and not have to pay 6+ times a month for imitrex (which for me eventually stopped working at all). Combine that with a generic pain medication for the few times when a migraine may break through, and you should be fine.