In the news this week recent research has shown that the way we think about any medication we are taking affects its effect upon us. That if we believe that it will work then it’s more likely to work. Basically the findings of the results strengthen the ideas that are the foundation to the phenomenon known as the placebo effect.
Sometimes though no matter how much we will a drug to work, it simply doesn’t and this week I have been dealing with the heartache of false hope and is a common journey for those who suffer from chronic headaches. I have been taking Topamax for almost 60 days now, it is most commonly used as an epilepsy drug but in much reduced doses has been known to do wonders for chronic headaches, so willing to give anything a go I began taking them just before Christmas.
Topamax I am told is given the nickname Toximax amongst the medical profession owing to their 104 known side effects listed on the accompanying leaflet, the most predominant of which is weight loss. In fact it was considered about being prescribed as a weight loss drug but I think the other 103 side effects made them think twice! You begin by taking half your dose for a week because most people feel unwell for the first couple of weeks and I was no exception. Strong nausea, a severe bout of the blues and a general feeling of malaise accompanied me for a long fortnight and I was lucky that this didn’t last. For many they experience harsh side effects throughout the whole course of medicine but for me, apart from losing a few pounds, I have coped perfectly well since then.
So have my headaches melted away into the ether I hear you ask? Well there was a point two weeks ago where I began to notice by lunchtime my headaches seemed to be disappearing leaving perfect clarity and this seemed to be happening everyday and I really started to believe I had turned a corner. In fact I convinced myself that I could adapt to this pattern, that I could stand a couple of hours of a cloudy/sore head in the morning if the majority of the day was headache free. I felt elated that the drugs were finally working, hope was strengthened and the light at the end of the tunnel that had long since grown dim had seemed to have been reignited from somewhere.
Several days later from the midst of hope, a searing pain sprung from behind my eyes and an all too familiar dull pain radiated from under my temples, the light quenched, the hope retreating… it wasn’t the medicine, it wasn’t anything changing. It was 10 days of milder headache than usual and I did well to enjoy it.
The Topamax appears not to have worked for me but that is not to say it won’t for you. It has been very successful for many sufferers of chronic daily migraine and headache and I hope if you are trying it you get more success than I did. Try not to be discouraged if things don’t work, there is always another thing to try and the next one may just provide the answer you’ve been searching for.
