Topamax: The One Thing I Can Not Live Without*

If you are a headache or migraine sufferer, you know pain. Okay, this sounds like a television commercial. But this is no joke. Migraines are painful. Topamax has helped stopped my pain. That is why I can not live without it. Why else would I pay a dollar for a pill (after insurance pays some)?

I have suffered from headaches and migraines since I was ten years old. I say headaches and migraines because there is a difference. I have both regular headaches and then the ones labeled migraines. You don't know what a migraine is? It is a lot of pain in the head, around the eyes, in the temple region, in the back of the head, the pain could stay in one place or the pain could shift. But that isn't all there is. Along with the pain, you can have nausea and or vomiting, waves of cold chills, sensitivity to light and noise. You feel miserable and it can last from hours to days. This is what I suffered sometimes as much as three days a week and then my doctor prescribed Topamax, a little round white pill, 25 milligrams once nightly.

Topamax changed my life. I take it a bedtime. It helps me to sleep. Yet, if I hear a noise or am needed at night, I can be awakened. It doesn't put me into a deep sleep. Then in the morning, I wake more refresh. What about the migraines? They have slowed down to about once a month. I still have the smaller type headaches. They seem to be allergy related. But they don't interrupt my life as much as migraines once did.

Topamax has other uses other than migraine prevention. It was first introduced as a preventive for seizures. Now it is given for other chronic pain suffers such as fibromaloya patients and even people with bipolar disorder. It is known to help even out one's moods.

Why don't I want to live without Topamax? I tried other pills. They left me feeling weird, dizzy and didn't stop the pain. The migraines were ruining my life. Try telling your family no you don't want to do this and that because of a headache on a steady basis and watch their faces. They look sad and they begin to doubt you. They may know you are in pain. But they can't feel it. They just feel the loss of you in their lives. Topamax has given me back more of my life.

Every month, I will gladly pay the $30 something to my local pharmacist in exchange for that little bottle of pills that has helped my pain.

No, I never want to live without Topamax.