Posted by Cybele on December 11, 2003, at 8:57:55
In reply to Re: Topamax-bipolar and weight loss?, posted by Beck on December 11, 2003, at 2:18:16
> Good question, I was wondering that also. Plus, has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, while drinking alcohol while on topamax? Any info would be much appriciated!
Beck, I read the archived posts about Topamax before I tried the med, and there were quite a few posts from people who say, "Don't drink alcohol on this med!" The PDR says that alcohol increases the side effects of Topamax. Because Topamax tends to dehydrate you without the alcohol, you add alcohol to the mix and you will have a helluva hangover. Drinking lots of water with the alcohol usually does not help much because alcohol seems to inhibit your body's absorption of water (this is purely my observation, LOL).
That said, I took 25mg a day of Topamax for 3 weeks and had 3 drinks on Thanksgiving and did not have any untoward aftereffects. That was the only alcohol I had in those 3 weeks and I was on a baby-sized dose, so I would imagine if you were drinking 4-5 times a week at a higher dose you might feel pretty crapulent most of the time. I think the problems really kick in when you are at the more therapeutic doses.
BTW, I stopped taking Topamax after three weeks because I started losing fistfuls of my hair when I shampooed. Now I am just taking 150mg WB-SR in the morning and getting a weekly 4 hours of good cardio exercise (i.e., with heart rate 70-80% of max.). My dx was double depression/soft bipolar, although I am feeling a lot better now than I was in September/October. (The exercise did it with a little boost from the Wellbutrin, I think.)
poster:Cybele
thread:50878
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031208/msgs/288728.html