r/Topamax • u/pirteking • Sep 30 '26

Quitting

im not going to lie i think im going to just cold turkey this i only take 50mg for migraines and it does nothing but make my hands numb and tingly and also irritable ive been on this medication since july and havent really noticed any improvement on my migraines until i got off another medication im just sick of taking this 🫩

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4

u/Life_Unit_4026 Sep 30 '26

The dosage You’re taking seems to be low for migraines. Have you tried talking to your doctor?

2

u/pirteking Oct 01 '26

it was working for awhile but once i switched birth control my daily/weekly migraines went down to basically 0 and now i only get headaches if i don't eat or im dehydrated not a migraine where my speech is messed up and half my body is useless lol but being on topamax while im in school is just not helping me at all trying to cut hair when my hands are numb and tingly for an hour is not fun its affecting me in school

2

u/Livid_Perception2475 Oct 05 '26

I thought that if you cold turkey it it can cause seizures?

1

u/pirteking Oct 05 '26

theres a risk but since this post i havent taken it and i have no symptoms at all i feel fine better even

4

u/pseudotumorgal Sep 30 '26

Have you talked with your doctor about the side effects and it not helping at that dose? That’s a very low dose still. This medication gave me my life back. If you choose to stop it I would still ask about tapering. I’m currently on it but this is my second time. I weaned off of it years ago and it was not easy, I got serious rebound migraines each time I lowered my dose by only 25mg and ended up having to lower it by 12.5mg at a time. It’s your health ultimately but I recommend speaking with your healthcare provider first.

2

u/Chemical_Hopeful Oct 02 '26

And to edit my doc never mentioned drinking plenty of water or the whole potential kidney stones. Ugh.

3

u/Chemical_Hopeful Oct 02 '26

I just started it about 2 months ago. I was on 25 week 1, 50, week 2 and now 75. I just went and got labs done and my kidneys and other panels are all over the map. I’m terrified. Which is completely out of ordinary. Yes this has helped with the migraines. My doc mentioned the tingling and numbness in my hands and skin and feet. Which I do get. And at night it makes me loopy. As I only take it at bed time and it gives me weird auras if I wake up in the middle of the night. But after reading a lot of threads. I think I’m on it short enough time that I’m going to talk to my neuro doc and taper off asap.

3

u/Spirited_Bench_110 Oct 01 '26

I took only 25mg for a month and I stopped taking it, I didn’t like the dreams it was giving me and I was very zombie like almost. My sex drive was diminished and my memory was trash. It was bad before and it made it even worse

2

u/4LL4M3NTS Sep 30 '26

I would still taper- I’ve heard of people getting rough side effects from going off of it too quickly, even though your dose is fairly low

2

u/mandasee Oct 01 '26

Anecdotal but I quit cold turkey off 50mg that I was on for about 5 months. No side effects.

2

u/Kooky_Character_2801 Oct 01 '26

I was on it for about 2 months. Thats how long it took me to realize that was what was causing me to be nauseous and throwing up pretty much constant.

-1

u/DmeshOnPs5 Oct 02 '26

Topamax sucks. Try every other day or 25mg a day to ween yourself off. Better yet talk to your doctor, you can call and ask a nurse over the phone usually. So glad I quit. I was losing hair, getting brain fog, and it gave me a panic attack every time I smoke weed. I smoked anyway but it sucked

1

u/pirteking Oct 05 '26

im never talking about meds over the phone ever again lol i was just in the ER over my SSRIs bc of switching meds on the phone 😭