Eye and other Topamax Side-Effects

By PoppyJam Monday, June 16, 2008

- A
- A
- A

Hi All,

Thursday night I was put on Topiramate (50mg working up to 200 mg eventually) for epilepsy (and bonus benefit migraine control - I have both.)

After 2 days on 50 mg of Topiramate I noticed some slight discomfort in my eyes like they were dry, achy, and a little light sensitive. My eye history is that I am extremely myopic and had a torn retina years ago, because the retina is stretched very thin. I'm on on Restasis for dry eye, so maybe the Topiramate is just drying me out a bit and I'm really sensitive to it. I was already about 20/30 vision wise so I'm not sure if my vision got blurrier in the past couple of days but I think it did; admitedly, this is possibly psycho-somatic, but eyes aren't anything to mess around with. I'm really worried because of all the warnings with this drug so I called the oncall last night who said many patients get eye "discomfort" and live with it. This is NOT what I've read. Eye "pain" or "discomfort" or "blurring" were a "call dr. immediately".

The other symptoms I'm having are racing speech (which I can live with), easy to get out of breath, and intermittent racing and irregular heart beat followed by chest pain. Note that I'm in excellent shape (have had a tread-mill test, etc), so I know it was the drug causing this.

The oncall said if I wanted to go off it (though he didn't seem all that concerned stating that the drug manufacturers are just "covering their butt") I had to reduce to 25 mg for a couple of days, even though I started on 50. I am doing that.

So... my question to the group is: Has anyone else experienced the dry/achy eye and not really had it be problematic and had it go away? I'm thinking of continuing the going off the drug, seeing how my vision seems next week, then maybe trying it again, but starting at an even lower dose to begin with, while under the supervision of my ophthamologist. Also, does the cardiac stuff subside for most people eventually?

Peace,

Comments (14) | Add comment

Eileen Gray

6/16/08 2:48pm

Hi K! Welcome to Mymigraineconnection!

You are correct, some of the side effects of Topamax can be vision problems.

Although I see for you, you are using this medication in a "two birds, one stone" type way, which is great if it benefits both the epilepsy and the migraines for you. I am not sure of the titration when dosing for epilepsy, but when using Topamax as a preventive medication for migraine, usually you start at 25mgs. and work up to 100mgs or sometimes more.

For more information on that see this article based on an interview with Dr. Stephen Silberstein : Dosage and Tapering Topamax for Migraine Prevention.

Topamax can cause vision problems and other issues as potential side effects. If you are having problems seeing or you have increased pressure in your eyes, please contact your doctor or see your eye doctor as soon as possible. This is just to be on the safe side, but we would rather see you check it out and be fine!

When I first started topamax, I remember my eyes feeling a little strained, but it went away after a few days. If you are having a severe reaction, seek medical help.

Also, the cognative side effects you are having (speech), that is also a potential side effect of Topamax. My cognative skills were affected when I first began topamax, and the effect lasted until I was finished with the tapering up, which was about a month and a half.

PoppyJam

6/16/08 8:36pm

Thank you Eileen for the welcome :-) Today I had my blood pressure checked and it's fine; I suspect the Topamax is affecting my cardio system a bit, and if I start worrying (anxiety) I compound the problem. My opthamologist checked my eyes and said they're fine; probably just drier eyes due to the Topamax. I asked if I was at any greater risk than anyone else for the conditions warned about and he said no, but he didn't think it a bad idea for me to come in in about a month later to get rechecked should I decide to continue with it; he may have been saying that since I was so concerned. Someone who works in that office is also on Topamax and they said the dry eye was something they've had to deal with as well. Ugh. With the Restatis drops the past year, my eyes have been white for the first time since I can remember. However, if I can focus at work (and avoid migraines) this may be worth the trade-off.

Kirsten

ottelia

6/17/08 11:21am

Hello,

I started 25 mg of Topamax, went to 50 mg within two weeks. My eye problems started about a month into treatment. I felt pressure and my eyes were dry. This got worse and my g.p. said it should go away, my pharmacist said not to worry. I saw an opthamologist who said, "Migraine med? Are you on Topamax?" He told me he has seen quite a few problems with Topamax and eye pressure which can lead to serious eye problems such as glaucoma. He advised me to continue with the Topamax if it really helped the migraines but moniter my eye pressure very carefully, or discontinue. I chose to discontinue as my eye discomfort made it hard to do anything and also some other side effects I found to be quite unpleasant. Please do moniter the pressure with an eye doctor if you choose to stay on this med. Now I am back to the triptans and thinking about other options. I don't have the epilepsy factor, however. Good luck with the meds.

Ottelia

PoppyJam

6/17/08 1:34pm

Thanks Ottelia, that sounds like good advice. Eye pain is a funny thing too. It very quickly goes from being "discomfort" to "pain"; nothing quite like it in my past experience with PRK (laser surgery) and cornea abrasions.

Nancy Harris Bonk, Health Guide

6/17/08 2:00pm

Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!

Are you still experiencing pain and increased blurred vision in your eyes today? As Eileen said, topamax does have some potential side effect that may have damaging impact on your vision. This typically occurs in the first month of treatment. Symptoms include, but are not limited to, blurred vision, discomfort, pain around eye area. If so, contact your doctor, let him know the FDA has a MEDWATCH you can find here, if he/she: Topamax drug warning. Please let us know how you are feeling, ok?

Thank you for creating a SharePost. SharePosts are a form of blogging, and there are many things you can do with them. You can share an experience, suggest something that's helped you, use SharePosts as a Migraine and headache journal, and many other things.

We also have a discussion forum that you may want to check out. Especially if you have questions or are looking for information, you may find the interaction on the forum to be quite helpful. To get to the forum, just look for the orange box marked "Manage" and click on the Migraine Forums link. Because our forums are maintained by a third party, you'll need to register for the forum. You can use the same information you used to create your community log-in if you like. If you want to go directly to the forum, you can click HERE.

Along with your personal "My Home" page and the discussion forum, you'll find links to a great deal of helpful information and a spot to sign up for our free newsletter on the main page of our site, http://www.MyMigraineConnection.com.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them to the forum or send me a message through my profile.

Welcome again,

Nancy Bonk
MyMigraineConnection.com Expert

PoppyJam

6/17/08 2:30pm

Hi Nancy,

Oh, you are so right. I really intended a forum post, but somehow managed a sharepost. Thank you all anyway for providing wonderful feedback when I needed it and later correcting me. :-)

I'm not having any increased pressure, but I also went 36 hours between a 25mg dose as of last night, when I took one, as I thought I was going to quit, so my blood levels are rather low and we'll see how things go. I've decided to try it again, since my opthamologist who is familiar with the drug cleared me (as of yesterday) from having any increased pressure or the other things "angular glaucoma" etc. I'll continue to monitor it very closely and to drink a LOT of water to combat the dry eye and of course risk of kidney stones.

In Gratitude,

Kirsten

Nancy Harris Bonk, Health Guide

6/18/08 3:49pm

I'm glad to hear you are keeping on top of this.

Keep us posted. Maybe we'll see you in the forum...

PoppyJam

6/30/08 11:43am

Update: I went off Topamax for good. I basically made it for 7 days and was a mess. It brought on seizures for me; I'm epileptic, but hadn't been having real noticable seizure activity but now I was. I continue to have them even after 1 1/2 weeks off the drug - ugh. I also had a lot of racing/irregular heart activity, and was a real basket case mentally. This obviously was not a good drug for me. My eyes are white once again (not dry) and I'm happy. This is a major serious drug! I'd used natural methods with success for reducing migraine previously, so am now looking into natural methods as well for the epilepsy.

Susan Chantamonga

6/29/08 11:01pm

I'm was on Topamax as well. But I had to stop because I saw a silver a ring. It's odd and hard to explain. I could also see my blood vessels in the bright light and my eyes were sensitive to bright light as well. Has anyone else experienced this?

Anonymous

7/30/08 10:37am

I have been searching the internet for days trying to find someone with a similar side affect. I also am seeing silver but it is not just a ring, the silver is outlining objects only immediately after I wake up and it only lasts about 5 minutes....the rest of the day I'm fine. weird

Susan Chantamonga

7/30/08 5:37pm

Well, it was odd. I've since then stopped because that could be a sign of early on set glaucoma, according to my doctor. Not to mention my hair falling out!

Melissa

9/20/08 11:27pm

I started taking Topamax a month ago for Migraines at 25mg & the higher the dose I go the more my my eyes dont track. Each day when I wake up I my eyes dont track what Im looking at for about the first 20 minutes or so. It looks white to me & anything with horizontial stripes is the worst. After the 20 minutes or so they go away for the rest of the day.

I have 20/20 vision but have also noticed that its been harder to focus on my computer during the day at work.