ridethewave Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Hi, I'm new to this forum. At the moment I'm sitting at home because when I woke up, I felt so anxious I couldn't leave the house. Getting the work has been tough these days. I'm always late (though my boss hasn't caught on yet). I've been taking Topamax, along with Wellbutrin and Lamictal, since 2007. My diagnosis is MDD, but I think it's really Depressive Disorder NOS because, depending on how sick I am, I am a depression/anxiety/irritability bundle ( DSM took irritability out of the MDD diagnosis in the 3rd edition, for some reason). I started a long time ago with 100mg Topamax, 50mg bid and it worked great. Recently my 100mg Topamax pooped out. I started raising the Topamax at the beginning of 2014 and by mid-February I seemed to stabilize at 200mg, That pooped out by the end of March. I started to raise it again and now I'm up to 300mg (incidently, I'm on brand, not toprimate). A couple of days ago I started to get irritated, itchy skin on my hands, forearms, shins, calves, upper back, face. My face feels totally raw, like I burnt it in the sun, and when I touch it, hurts. I've taken an antihistamine, which helps with the uncomfortable sensations, but between the antihistamine and the 300mg I'm so sleepy I can hardly think. I've been working with my doctor, raising the Topamax, and he says give the 300mg a few more days, that will be a 3 week trial. After that I want to try going down to 250mg again. I think I may have titrated too fast and missed the therapeutic window and am now in the shitty side effect zone where there is all discomfort and no benefit. I've read about this phenomenon, is it real? I can't see myself going higher than 300mg at this point, if 300mg does not result in mood stabilization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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