Thread:Dustydog202/@comment-35319541-20180507193648/@comment-35319541-20180508005659

OOOOH DIANE,

The topamax and Amitriptyline I was on for two years and my memory, motor and cognitive progressively got worse, at which time the dr would just increase the dose. I was sleeping 20 hours a day and got down to looking like a skelliton. so did my appearance my aunt in her 70s always accompanied me and the dr would always ask which of us was the patient, I mean really, I am 20 years younger than my aunt. When the migraines got so bad I was given a shot of Toridal-then went home and slept forever, but the pain would dimish. I somehow managed to find a web page that other people had discussed their experiences with Topamax and it litterally scared me to death. I went back to the dr. and he finally switched it to something else saying "I guess you just cannot handle the topamax" after 6 more months on the new stuff and sorry I do not even remember their names, I threw them down the toilet. The other one  was a seritonin reuptake sertraline it think its generic name was-that one I had to wean off of. To me it was the Topamax that has left me with residual permanite damage. Like right now I know some words are spelled wrong, but I cannot for the life of me figure out the correct way to spell it. Sorry about that. I guess I must have some super high thresh hold for pain or am really hard headed. I had a C5-S1 fusion like yours in 19991. Now I suffer endless lower back and hip pain due to scoliosis, a secondary thing due to the fusion. I too was opened up from the back first then the front-a battery bone growth stimulator was put into place and will remain forever though it is no longer active.

It worries me so about the topamax and you. It seriously took me 2 years to regain enough ability to think and speak as well as I do now and most don't notice the flaws in my thoughts, though those close to me do and so do I that word or words I can't find, etc. I also have a lot of nerve issues, constant feeling of ice on top of my feet and burning on the bottom, it wakes me up at night. yuk, and double yuk. I don't even know what it is like to get enough sleep that you never feel tired or have to take naps all day. Is there really such a thing as 'rested'? not to me there isn't.

Are you able to work? I can't imagine how, I was on the family medical leave and when I missed a day, somehow the company thought I should be at work making up my time, I still managed to put in my 50 hr work week, until I realized that I was only hurting myself more and getting worse, and that fmla states you cannot be required to make up missed time. I knew then my days there were limited,