During my third or maybe fourth emergency visit to (my client’s) restroom this morning, and while dry coughing some more, my nose started bleeding. Which was awkward because I can’t feel my fingers or anything along the trigeminal nerve. Good Lord, the side effects of this medication are like radiation poisoning. Did anyone else have this issue and how long did it last? I can almost accept feeling like I’ve been brained and then run over by a truck, but leaking from multiple orifices is some sort of cosmic joke.
You can always try amitriptyline or effexor or other drugs and later come back to Topomax. Just saying as it seems to be rough on you.
Rough doesn’t start to describe it. I know why my neurologist went here when all the rescue meds, diet and supplements failed. MAV symptoms daily since September, 31 headache days with 8 migraines with aura in January alone. I’m debilitated and starting to do real damage. She’s looking for something to knock out everything and quick. Too bad I’m part of that package. I see her again on the 28th. Amitriptyline is next on the list.
Thank you.
Amitriptyline is a buddy of a drug. It brought MAV down couple of notchaes for me but still far from being symptom free
Is buddy a good or bad word in this context? (I’m not exactly MENSA material of late.)
As I’m going to feel horrible, I’m willing to balance painful, kind of dizzy awfulness with less mortifying and stupifying awfulness.
Its an easy drug to latch onto. Helps you sleep better, one of its side effects (no complaints). Makes you gain weight, only wish it can stop doint that.
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Well, shoot. I have PCOS and am quite fat enough already. There’s no rule you just get one disastrous disease at a time. I’m never bored, though, so there’s that. 
Hi Emily,
Are you doing Topomax morning and night or just once a day 25mg ? If twice you can cut back to once.
Have you had migraines before September ? If so were you on any meds to manage those.
You can use the flow chart at the bottom of the below link to get an overall understanding of all your med options so next time you can brain storm with your neurologist. Topomax is usally the go-to drug for most neurologists including mine and i kind of pushed back and asked for Amitriptyline as it was recommended in the book “heal your headache”.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3707352/
Looks like most side effects of Topomax including one’s on the cognitive side are reversible on stopping the meds for majority of folks.
It’s Trokendi XR, 50 mg, 1x/day at night. (It’s also 2 am and I’m wide awake again. 
)
I’ve had migraine since 2014, vestibular issues long before that. Things just spun wildly out of control in September. I’ve been on a beta blocker and diuretics for years. I was just on the migraine diet and Petadolex (butterbur), which were working right up until I had this crazy migraine with brainstem aura that sent me to the ER after a week. I’m kinda wondering if I didn’t have a bit of brain damage from that. I’ve never recovered.
Thanks for the reading. I’ll do it now. I’ve given up on sleep.
I’d hope that was true, but n=7, mostly epileptic surgery patients is too small and specific a sample group for me to trust reversibility carte Blanche. I’m looking at zoologist (Lisa’s) experience and thinking it’s about the hard choices MAV requires.
I did appreciate the article. I can’t imagine hating my fat enough to take topomax as a first choice. Given my PCOS, I’m not surprised that while I have literally every other major common side effect in spades, weight loss isn’t one of them. Figures.
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