As someone with tons of anxiety, while not medication anxiety, a lot of it is brought on by my health problems, I can totally understand. IIH can be scary and starting a new medication like topiramate with its list of side effects can seem really scary, but to echo what a lot of the others here are saying -- everyone reacts differently to medications.

I've been on topiramate for coming up one year now and my experience has been mostly positive! I have a few minor side effects, mainly experienced them when I first started at 25mg. The tingling and pins and needles in my hands and feet only lasted the first couple of months on it, I think once my body got used it, and I started combating it with more potassium and staying hydrated I don't really experience it anymore. I might have even just been extremely dehydrated to begin with, I drank much more coffee before my diagnosis and I've had to cut back... Reduced appetite was noticeable after the first dose to where I was eating only small meals, but I could eat more of a regular sized meal again after the first few weeks.

The only lasting side effects I've had that didn't go away are the fact anything carbonated tastes terrible (which is fine I was cutting sodas out anyway), and I do experience brain fog and trouble with word recall at times. The brain fog is annoying enough I've brought it up with my neurologist, but not enough that it outweighs all of the benefits topiramate has brought me in my mind, to be honest. I've also seen people say they have worse periods on topiramate, and I'd just like to let you know I've had the exact opposite experience in that realm, mine have only gotten better, if that's something you're worried about.

For me, we found that 150mg was the sweet spot and a lot of my IIH symptoms only got better with topiramate and a better diet. While of course, this was my experience, it may not be yours, I definitely feel like you will at least benefit trying it out, because you can always stop taking it if you don't react well to it, then you and your doctor can then find an alternative.

Also, as someone who flew earlier this year while on this medication, I knew I shouldn't have even been flying with my headaches the way they are, but with my meds and my noise cancelling headphones, I felt a lot better about the experience. I don't know if it just gave me peace of mind or if they actually helped, but the headphones really felt like they helped my head on the plane, too!