Wellness

[Pooky1]

• My wife  started taking these last week. 1 pill for a week. Then second week it goes to 2 pills. Then 3 piils then finally to 4. Its for migraine headaches. In the first week its making some foods have an awful taste. It Said it's a side affect. Anyone take this med?

[Vivian]

My daughter took Topamax for her migraines several years ago. She couldn't tolerate it. I've forgotten what she switched to but the Topamax gave her a bunch of side effects. I do recall it affecting her sense of taste and her cognition. And there was something about club soda that I can't recall. All I know very clearly is that she tried to take it for months and as the negatives increased, she knew she had to stop.

[Xivambala]

Yes, I have been taking 100mg daily for many years for migraine headaches. I have never had any side effects. I did have a doctor several years ago ask me to stop it thinking it was contributing to elevated LFTs. I grudgingly complied. My head pain increased so much that I had to go back on it. 

[carlycat]

I do. I've taken 50 mg daily for years. When I first started I noticed that it made pop taste weird. I don't anymore. Also I had some word confusion. Now I either am used to that or don't notice it anymore. Like the previous poster, I tried to taper off several times, but headaches returned. Tell her to hang in there. 

[Mz iMac]

It affected my taste.  Hated the taste of Pepsie & all meats.  I am thin normally.  Lost MORE weight which I could not afford to do.  Had to eat a lot of junk food along w/Ensure to maintain my weight.

I took it years ago for approximately 4 yrs for migraines.  100mgs made me feel like I had one foot on a banana peel & the other at an Alzheimers nursing home.  When I had to keep post-it notes in my car for directions of how to get home, I knew it was time to get off of it.

I gotta say, Topamax worked for me but after 4 years, I could no longer tolerate the side effects. Getting worst that it almost affected my job.

Funny thing.......I had to be "weaned" off of Topamax.  Took 3-4 months for ALL of the side effects to disappear.

[BirkiLady]

I've been on Topamate (aka Topamax) for over 20 years and have never experienced any of the complaints anyone has mentioned above. It's the only med that absolutely controls migraines for me. I may know a migraine is happening, but it certainly doesn't stop me from doing normal activities! It's the one thing I'd take if going to be stranded on an island forever. 

[AngelPuppy1]

Yes.  I have been taking it for a long time.  I had several issues when I first started taking it.  And making pop taste metallic was one of the things, and also some foods tasted weird.  I felt off kilter, tired, and like I couldn't get the right words to come out of my mouth for a while.  Thankfully, these things subsided rather quickly.  This medication helped me with the migraines so much. I tried so many other things and nothing helped me like this!  I wish your wife much success and hope her migraines are helped by this!  

[Shelbelle]

2 of my friends took it then stopped. Another tried it and broke out in hives. 

[Toppers3]

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@Pooky1 wrote:

• My wife  started taking these last week. 1 pill for a week. Then second week it goes to 2 pills. Then 3 piils then finally to 4. Its for migraine headaches. In the first week its making some foods have an awful taste. It Said it's a side affect. Anyone take this med?

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I take it for chronic head pain and nerve-type headaches from a car accident.

I have been on it for a long time now.

It can affect your short-term memory as a side-effect, and it can give some food and drinks a metalic-like taste as another side-effect.

It also makes certain foods taste more sour or bitter to me, too.

I can't enjoy some cheeses or foods made with sour cream. They taste "off" to me.