Posted by headachequeen on June 18, 2004, at 15:29:49
In reply to weight gain on topamax, posted by hoax on June 18, 2004, at 14:50:35
> I've been on Topamax 400 mg for 1 year now and have had no weight loss, despite it being promised to me by my p-doc over and over.
> Recently I switched p-docs, unrelated, and was told that he sees an average of a 20-25lb weight GAIN in the first year on Topamax when used for bipolar. And, that's what I have. 25 lbs more.
> Plus, numbness in my fingers (both hands) and cognitive impairement (mostly word finding difficulties). I would say it helps me sleep, maybe it levels me out, I can't tell.
Hmmm... most interesting...
For years I have wondered how the aspirin when taken for a head ache knows it is to attack a head ache instead of arthritis... or when taken to prevent stroke knows it is for that...
there is a commercial on Canadian television now in which the doctor reminds the patient that he is to take one aspirin a day to prevent stroke or heart disease or whatever then tells him to take it for some pain or other... different colour package of course, so now I know that the aspirin is really clever and knows that it is taken for a specific reason....and here you are telling me that the Topomax knows that it is being taken for a specific reason, that is to say for bipolar treatment, so will cause the patient to gain weight???
Help, someone!!! I am in that epistatic or episomething phase that follows a seizure and have a hard time focussing...
why would it cause a person to gain weight for one reason and to lose it for another??? Enquiring minds need to know...I have been on 400 mg a day for a little over a year then was boosted to 600... as the dosage increased (SLOWLY remember <gg> ) the weight began to come off as I lost my interest and cravings and obsession for food... and whatever else accompanied it...
I have to admit that I think the self esteem that came with the weight loss contributes... as I began to look better I began to be more aware of the weight issue and the food issues... and that has to have helped... as in, Hey world!!! I had a hand in this too so I want a pat on the back <GGG>
As the dosage increased, the weight loss increased...
Today I discovered that I am back in the I really don't care about food too much...
my theory is that if I cannot identify the food I want... as in crisp? spicy? vegetable? salad? and so on, then I really am not hungry so shall wait until later... and it works...
I am not emaciated or bulemic or anorexic and I am healthy... healthier than I have been as far as the weight and energy things are concerned, so that is working before anyone wonders...but there is no way that Topomax can figure out why I was prescribed it in the first place and decide that it is going to help me lose or gain weight... I refuse to believe that...
unless I decide to binge eat or something...that is too much Twilight Zone for me... like the aspirin knowing that it is my right ankle I sprained and not my left...
kat
poster:headachequeen
thread:5053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040614/msgs/357890.html