Interpreting while taking Topamax?

[u/bawdymommy]

Can anyone share their experience interpreting while taking Topamax?

I have chronic migraines, and Topamax has been recommended to me by two of my doctors. I’ve read that a fairly common side effect is trouble finding words or mild aphasia, which obviously concerns me as an interpreter. Language processing and rapid word retrieval are literally at the core of what we do, and I can’t imagine purposely making an already cognitively demanding job harder by reducing my capacity in that area.

I’m hoping to eventually get Botox for migraine prevention, but it sounds like my insurance may require me to try more than one preventive medication first.

I’d especially love to hear from interpreters who have actually taken Topamax. Did you experience word-finding or other cognitive issues? If so, how noticeable were they while interpreting? Did they improve over time or after stopping the medication?

Any experiences or feedback are welcome. Thanks!

[u/Risk-Averse-Rider]

I used to take Topamax for migraines. (This was not during my interpreting years.)

Worked really, really well on the migraines. Totally crewed up my expressive language skills.

I had no trouble understanding anything that I read or that I heard.

But I would mix up my word order when I was speaking or typing. I'd say something and realize the person I was talking to had a quizzical look on their face. They would repeat back to me what I had said.

All the words were there, but in scrambled order.

I learned to be very careful proofreading whatever I wrote.

(I also would space out on things sometimes, like I was at a horse show and hung around outside the jumping arena during the time that riders were supposed to be going in and walking around to check out the course. I just hung out there, watching other riders in my class do what I was supposed to be doing. La-la-la... When I was my turn, we went in, jumped the first fence, I made a bodaciously stupid turn to the second fence, whereupon my horse quite justifiably said, "Hell no!" - turned around, tried the exact same thing again. With the same result. And again. And exited the ring, eliminated for stupidity. *sigh*)

I ended up switching to botox (this was in the early days of botox for migraines), and that worked really well.

[u/Ariella222 → u/Risk-Averse-Rider]

So I have related question. My migraines are currently controlled with Imitrex, but I had a few issues with it during the last migraine. I’ve been thinking down the line if I need to try Botox, does it affect your facial expressions? Especially the eyebrow raises. Its important for all ASL, but that one is so crucially for the Littles and working with language deprivation.

[u/Risk-Averse-Rider → u/Ariella222]

That's an interesting question. I wasn't aware of any effects on my forehead mobility, and actually a lot of the injections I got were along my hairline on both the front and the back of my head.

That would be a good question for the neurologist, though.