Deteriorating vision on Topamax... but not glaucoma?

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

rhiz

New
Messages
95
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hey there.. been a while!
I was put on Topamax in September and I'm not on 100mg in the morning and 150 in the evening (we're trying 150 as I'm still having the occasional "jerk" but no full seizures AT ALL on Topamax, so it beats Keppra, but it's basically like a step right back to Lamotrigine...)

But I'm having 2 main eye problems with it. One problem is when things move infront of my eyes (mainly lights in the dark) they leave a blur causing a fair and irritating disturbance
The other is I'm getting this bad eye pain which the optician reckoned was something to do with my eye muscles, rather than my eyes themselves as my eye pressures and eyes themselves haven't changed at all in the 3 months I've been on Topamax (regular checks). Therefore it doesn't look like I'm having any problem with a glaucoma.

Has anyone else had any vision disturbances like these "blurs" but had it put down to something OTHER than a glaucoma? My GP is just baffled and not very clued up on the subject really :(
 
Have you told your neuro about this eye problem? It could be the Topamax.

From www.drugs.com:
Topamax side effects

Call your doctor at once if you have a serious side effect such as:

~sudden vision loss, pain around or behind your eyes;
~dry mouth, increased thirst, drowsiness, decreased sweating, increased body temperature, and hot, dry skin,
~confusion, slowed thinking, memory problems, trouble concentrating, problems with speech or balance;
~vomiting, loss of appetite, tired feeling, irregular heartbeats, feeling like you might pass out; or
~severe pain in your side or lower back, painful or difficult urination.

I've had vision problems from another drug, (not an AED) but it ended up being Diabetes for me. And now I do take a 200 mgs. of Topamax and 3000 mgs. of Keppra a day and do experience the dry mouth and slowed thinking. With Keppra I initially had those depressive thoughts.
 
Did you see an opthamologist (MD) or an optomatrist (OD)? You need to be checked out by the opthamologist (MD). There can be swelling in the nerves behind the eyes, and that's a quite serious problem. It takes testing beyond what an optometrist usually does. It would cause symptoms like those you are experiencing. If you have already seen an opthamologist (MD) based on your symptoms she should have already checked for this, but a call in to her wouldn't hurt.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom