Can Topamax (for migraines) cause suicide or severely altered moods for someone with bipolar 1?

The prescribing information lists these adverse reactions from the clinical trials of Topamax for epilepsy: "Psychiatric Disorders: Frequent: impotence, hallucination, psychosis, suicide attempt. Infrequent: euphoria, paranoid reaction, delusion, paranoia, delirium, abnormal dreaming. Rare: libido increased, manic reaction."

This sounds like a good question for your doctor. Please don't stop taking Topamax without his supervision. Just discontinuing it abruptly can cause problems too.

I took Topamax 800 mg for several years and I had no reactions to it except it made me drowsy..I went off and restarted it and at 300 mg..it's giving me migraines..so I think it's how your body reacts to it...it's weird because it's a migraine preventative so you really need to talk to your doctor. It's possible you were having a depressed episode and had nothing to do with the Topamax at all. You will still have down times on meds..they are not miracle workers. Also meds like imitrex only work WHEN a migraine hits..you can only take 2 a day and most insurance covers 6 a month..that is 3 days a month..I know. .it sucks. that's not a option if you have daily migraines like me and if you are on topamax you probably do..Topamax is also a mood stabilizer so it may help with the depression if you can stay with it..you are on a low dose. Therapeutic dose is 300 mg or above.

Hello Muddyblackcat, my name is Melissa and I have been taking Topamax since a week before this past Christmas. I love the way it makes me feel. I am more happier. I lost 16 pounds and I don't even exercise. The only thing is, it does make you feel a little high. Also, it makes you feel a little stupid. Like, it is hard for me to type this note to you. I keep hitting the back space. I usually don't do that. And also, If you don't eat something small with it, you will throw up. If you are very thin and don't want to loose weight. I highly suggest you don't take this medicine. It will take your appetite away. The first week you will feel drowsy, but that is because your body is just trying to get adjusted. I take Topamax 150 mg, Lithium 900 mg, Wellbutrin SR 300 mg, Celexa 40mg. Good Luck.

There are no known side effects like the ones you describe. topamax can cause depression. If you are taking meds for BP there could be a reaction between the two, you need to speak with your Dr. about that. I take Topamax for migraines at a higher dosage, and have never experienced any side effects, but as you probably know everyone reacts to meds differently. But I would seriously doubt that the suicidal reaction was a side effect of the topamax.

I was prescribed it in reverse from you. I am bipolar who suffers from migraines, they put me on Topamax for bipolar meds and secondarily hoping the migraines would be helped too. It never helped my migraines. It made me confused, it made my extremities tingle all the time. Much longer than the average "getting used to it" time takes. I had horrible recall, I couldn't recall names to simple things, couldn't count in order, couldn't tell my left from my right. I took it faithfully for a year. They added Abilify to my med list and then I had orthostatic hypotension. This is where you stand up and your blood pressure bottoms out and you faint. Topamax also has high incidence of kidney stones, and therefore you should be having regular blood tests to check your levels. Towards the end I was VERY manic and suicidal. I went off of it. Talk to your doc, but this is just my experience with it.

I'll tell you this. I was prescribed topomax as my main drug for bipolar1 disorder and it sent me into psychotic episodes. I was on it for 4 weeks and have very little memory of that period at all. What I do remember were severe muscle spasms affecting large areas of my body and serious bouts of rage. It left me completely out of control according to my spouse and even physically assaulted one of my neighbours, a behaviour which I had not succumbed to in many years. Yes, I believe topomax can cause bizarre effects in people with bipolar 1 although I am unsure in regards to the suicide issue. I wouldn't be surprised though.

My opinion is to flush that stuff down the toilet.

A better medication for your migraines, from my own experience, would be Imitrex. I had a ew side effects from it, but nowhere nearly as severe as the ones from topomax.

My wife also took topomax for a period of time and suffered 'bizarre' side effects from its use. It should be removed from the market.

I am *not* any kind of doctor, but I can tell you that someone close to me, who is not bipolar, was given Topamax for his epilepsy and it made him manic *and* made him hallucinate vividly. It was an absolutely horrible experience and it took about two to three months after he stopped taking the drug for him to get back to something resembling normal.

http://www.neurologyreviews.com/feb04/nr_feb04_for...