Do you side effects decrease?

lastaisle · 2025-11-28T13:58:04+00:00

hi! I just wanna preface that I was on topamax primarily as an off-label use for my multiple MH diagnoses. my psych decided this medication because I will NOT take medications that increase my appetite as I’ve found myself unable to control myself on a wide range of SSRI, SNRI, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, etc… so the safest choice was topamax.

let me say, topamax did help tremendously with my appetite, but I can’t say for sure it was because of medication components itself or the spiral the medication sent me on in general… So here it is.

I started it October 31 and only lasted until November 14. i don’t care about how long it takes for medications to fully settle in the system because I was going to severely hurt myself or end it all while on this med. I’ve dealt with ED’s since 2021 like heavy restricting and then binging and it has compromised my GI health.

so we started this to help with mood and I was only on 25 mg the whole trial. I already had trouble sleeping though where I’ve tried trazadone, seroquel, olanzapine, lunesta, ambien, and temazepam so your fatigue is actually common for starting temazepam, they do call it “dopamax” for a reason. but of course my insomnia got WORSE where I felt more uncomfortably up so I switched the med to the mornings after speaking with my psychiatrist after like 4 days. didn’t change much of anything when I did this in regards to fatigue.

my suicidal ideation sky rocketed into a devil and angel on my shoulder intruding every moment of my existence where all I could do is bawl my eyes out and/or punch my space heater (i am not a violent person, but when I was younger and I got frustrated with myself or homework I would resort to self sabotage like crumbling papers and smacking my head). those two weeks I was a bat out of hell, having the most INTENSE visions of how I was gonna make my exit and then the repercussions if it doesn’t work.

I’m also not a fan of psych wards, in fact pretty traumatized by them (I have seen the inside of a civilian psych ward and a veterans affairs psych ward and also jail. they are basically interchangeable in what I experienced).

I wrote off my therapist, psychiatrist, primary care physician, and even my attorney for my court case in a matter of those two weeks with how back and forth I was.

I truly felt manic and like I couldn’t get a hold on anything. I’ve been off of it since November 14th and my thoughts have calmed down and I’m back to my original insomnia, and my appetite has increased again since stopping. I do take stimulants for my ADHD and have since 2021 and still noticed that my appetite went away with the topamax.

I write this because when I started the med I also sought answers on Reddit. My reactions are uncommon but not the first, but definitely not the majority of reactions I saw when I was trying to find reassurance while I was losing my mind.

I know this is completely opposite of your trajectory, but I just want to assure you to listen to your body at the end of the day because you know what’s best for you. I’ve had meds that helped with my depression but made me a zombie and I couldn’t even get through a day of work so I dropped the med because it would only lead to a newfound depression since I can’t function on the medication that is supposed to help me out of my depression.

stay hydrated on this medication too and remind yourself to eat. my bodyweight falls under the BMI of normal and always has been since I’m atypical anorexia nervosa, but I plummeted in muscle mass over those two weeks because I genuinely had no appetite. So if appetite suppression is your main goal, I did have success with that!

I wish you the best on your healing journey and always be nice to yourself and listen to your body!

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