Migraine

I have been on Topa,ax for about 3 weeks now and have not noticed any weight change at all. No change in appetite, taste, nothing and I am very disappointed. I was praying for it to help me with my weight and bipolar and so far no luck with either. Any advice???

Emmy,

First, welcome to the "home" for many migraineurs. Check out our first folder for information and advice.

Second, one of our Forum Moderators will be along soon to more formally welcome you.

Third, I've been on Topamax for about 3 years now to manage my migraine disease. It took a LONG time to get into my system. My neuro kept advising me to be patient.

I can't give you any medical advice. I can tell you "Topa" is a curious drug in how it affects each of us. Just be patient. Keep talking with your doctor. Keep working with yourself.

Good Luck!

Rebecca, The Island Mama

hi ammy!

Hello and welcome to our forum family! Our goal is to provide everyone with the information and support that we all need to manage our Migraines and/or headaches. To that end, we consider this a “safe harbor,” where nobody tries to sell us anything, and we all use “family-friendly” language so parents are comfortable letting their children read the forum with them.

Please take a few minutes to review our policies and guidelines along with the other information in the START HERE folder. For information about Migraines, a good article to begin with is Learning About Migraines - Where to Start.


It takes a while for these meds to start working on our Migraines- a fair trial of a medication is three months! You mention that you wanted it to work on your appetite and taste and weight loss. Those are side effects that may happen while you're on that medication, but is not its purpose.
Here is some information on Topamax

What dose of Topamax are you taking? Here's the some information about Dosage and Tapering Topamax for Migraine Prevention

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!!

Emmy,
Welcome to the forum! I too hoped I would get the added benefit of losing some weight when I was on Topamax but I was on it for over 6 months and never lost a single pound. I was on 175mg. My doctor said that happens to some people. Most do lose weight on the drug but some don't. We are all different.

I think the most important thing to focus on is whether it helps your migraines. It didn't help me and so I went on Zonegran and funny thing I have lost weight now. Don't think it's the drug as much as it's having to change my diet because of the food triggers. No more junk food, chocolate or sweets for me!!

It's funny cause about 4 years ago, I worked with a lady who had such a cute figure and ate like a horse! When I asked her what her secret was, she said it was Topamax! I had never heard of it. I remember making some comment about not wanting migraines just to be skinny. Little did I know that I was actually having them then but was being misdiagnosed. And that within 4 years, I would be on the drug. Weird how life turns out.


parisbabe

Hi, Emmy!

It's tough to be patient sometimes, particularly when you're feeling worn out from dealing with symptoms day after day. Sometimes we get lucky and start noticing results right away. Sometimes it just takes longer for meds to kick in and start working, though. A lot of meds take three to six weeks to start working, and then up to six months to really settle in at a therapeutic level. I don't blame you for being disappointed, but try not to get too discouraged. It's still early in the big scheme of things.