Posted by headachequeen on February 22, 2004, at 16:28:55
In reply to Re: Topamax help =(), posted by sjb on February 22, 2004, at 7:25:33
> First, not ALL experience weight loss with Topomax, and for those that do, it is generally temporary. >
> A quote from a article in the New Yorker about the supplement industry was helpful for me and may be for others as well:
>
> "Yet, despite thousands of weight-loss studies and an increasingly focused search for solutions, there is NO (caps inserted by me) evidence that any prescription, over-the-counter product, or supplement has ever kept a person's weight down for much more than a few months. At best, such drugs or supplements are short-term answers to lifelong problems; at worst, they intensify the disorders they attempt to cure." From Miracle in a Bottle by Michael Specter, The New Yorker, February 2, 2004
Here I take my stance at the chalkboard and assume my teacher's role again... thought I had left that life behind long ago when I entered the journalism life... forgive the pedantic stance, please...
BUT...
Let us remember first and foremost that Topomax is not intended to be first and foremost a weight-loss panacea. It was developed, if my weakened cognitive skills are kicking in properly <s>, to deal with seizures. In that respect, it has been a boon to the epileptic and to others with seizure-related illnesses and problems.
Along the way it was discovered that it has useful side-effects: it tends to eliminate migraine head-aches; it has a propensity for suppressing appetite; it would seem from the conversation among the people here that it helps some of us who suffer emotional mental health problems. It has negative side-effects, too many to list.
The useful side-effects, when working in tandem with its original raison d'etre, are great. However, when it is used specifically with the intent that it cause weight loss or it change the psyche's approach to life, then we are asking it to perform its random effects, not its intended effects, and we are hoping that it will do the unexpected.
There are no magic buttons or potions for weight loss. We all know that. No one who has gained weight for whatever reason, medical problem or simply because the chocolate cake and the butter pecan crunch ice cream were too hard to resist, thinks otherwise, but it is nice to have help and nicer yet to have hope.
As one who takes Topomax for its primary intent, to help with seizures and in the hope that one of its side-effects will kick in and the migraines will be defeated as well, I am more than happy.
The migraines have been absent from my life for almost fourteen months now.
The seizures, while not totally absent from my life, are no longer weekly or nightly, sometimes bi-nightly, events.
The weight-loss side-effect, again random, I realise, has kicked in too. The weight I gained while being treated for depression, thanks to the depression itself, some of it caused by the undiagnosed epilepsy (misdiagnosed as symptoms of depression and when diagnosed several years ago, ignored by a doctor who did not want me saddled by the stigma of epilepsy... depression is less a stigma????? go figure!) an thanks to the meds used to treat the depression that led to weight gain,
I have lost weight and kept it off for a year now; the weight loss began at 25 mg... I think it depends upon the metabolism of the individual...
not the dosage...
my sister-in-law was on Topomax and is now on another medication instead (she decided that she preferred to be able to have a drink now and then) but has not gained weight and still has a small appetite although she has not taken Topomax
for over two years and it may be longer. She had been off it for quite a while when I was first prescribed the med.
She still eats only one main meal a day with a light breakfast... a scrambled egg with cheese and juice or perhaps yoghurt and juice in the morning.
As I do she craves protein and her main meal is usually chicken or fish, occasionally beef with fresh vegetables... with the occasional snack of cheese... neither of us is able to finish a large meal... small portion of potato with a touch of sour cream or melted cheese on top with the vegetables which we prefer raw anyway LOL...
and we no longer indulge in chocolate bars or other sweets... with her birthday and our anniversary coming up, they are a day apart, we are both concerned about offending family members who have great plans afoot...
dinner at a favourite restaurant for the whole tribe and we will be the ones ordering salads... we just do not have the great appetites...
It may not have the same effect for everyone but this is a SIDE-EFFECT, it is not the planned effect...
and as someone told me a while back when I posted that I had reached a plateau and was no longer losing weight, it was time to do it the old-fashioned way... to work at it...
actually it was time to work at other things, not weight loss... I had to work on the body that had lost all that weight!!!
My body and I are considering the prospect of having to buy an entire new wardrobe when spring gets here...
nothing that fit last summer will fit this summer...
I have dragged out the sewing machine to make some alterations in favourite clothes... but some things are just not a possibility... and I could cry!
now we have a blood sugar problem...
it ain't all beer and skittles...
we have entered the low blood sugar arena this body and I... and that is a new challenge...
saw the doctor the other day and he is furious that my psychologist would kick me loose in winter when I have the worst time of all...
we have to get through February and March, traditionally my worst phase of the year and the psych-man says that I am doing so well I don't need him any more...
so time will tell...
maybe one of those random Topomax side-effects will replace the psychologist???
if not I have some strong help right here....
kat
poster:headachequeen
thread:50878
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040218/msgs/316570.html