28 replies to this topic

[anxiousfrog]

For me, every single carbonated beverage tastes like absolute garbage EXCEPT for Coca-Cola, that tastes just the same as always, and I love it. MmmMmmm.

Is anyone else like that? Everything tastes like crap except for one thing in particular? I think it's psychological, because I love coke so much. I gave up smoking, I can't give up my coke, too, hahaha.

[lostanddelirious]

I think it could be the topamax. Given the fact that it is taken a lot to counteract weight gain from a few crazy meds, it makes sense.
Not sure, but the drug somehow sets off a certain chemical for your appetite to be curbed. When I was on it it made me look at food like it was nasty. So I might link that to sodas as well.
Hence the tendency to look at soda that same way as the food. One thing leads to another.
So you are both chemically and psychologically influenced by topamax.

Jerod and jook probably can expand on it way more than I can.

[dymphna]

The search function is your friend, really.

And there are other moderators here as well.

Topamax is partially a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor. As such, it makes carbonated beverages taste flat. For that matter, it will alter the taste of all sorts of things, you just haven't stumbled upon them yet.

It isn't in your brain (actually, it is, but it isn't psychological), it is on your taste buds. The messaging from your taste buds to the appropriate "taste sensors" in your brain is altered by a CAI.

Be happy it is happening: it means that, on at least some level, the Topamax is working as it is supposed to. eg: at least the CAI portion is working - there is another part to the drug that may or may not be your brain's cup of tea. If everything suddenly tastes fizzy some day, you should probably call your doctor.

As to the Coke: take a sip and really think about what you're tasting. You're probably not tasting fizz from it if you can't taste fizz from anything else. You're probably feeling the sensation of bubbles on your tongue. It's a subtle difference.


Dymphna

[anxiousfrog]

The search function is your friend, really.

I have read Jerod's page on Topamax, and know that soda tastes like crap to most people. I've also seen it in the handout they give at the pharmacy, and know that every other soda I try is absolutely nasty as hell. I didn't word my original post well at all, and I need to apologize for that. My brain is on vacation. My intelligence level is plummeting. I feel really, really, really dumb lately. I think the combo of Effexor and Topamax should qualify someone for like...I don't know, at least a T-shit that says "Be Nice to Me, I'm Medicated"

As to the Coke: take a sip and really think about what you're tasting. You're probably not tasting fizz from it if you can't taste fizz from anything else. You're probably feeling the sensation of bubbles on your tongue. It's a subtle difference.

Coke probably just tastes exactly the same to me because I need it to. Like I said, I gave up smoking, I also gave up drinking alcohol, I can't give up my coke, too!

[Bobby_R]

Coke probably just tastes exactly the same to me because I need it to. Like I said, I gave up smoking, I also gave up drinking alcohol, I can't give up my coke, too!

I commend thee for making a wise choice between the least of three evils. You shall thereby earn the right to live longer with your illness. I beseech thee, do submit to impart some portion of the wisdom you gain forthwith for use by the rest of us fellow inmates

[diagnosed]

luckily i never had the soda problem when on topamax

[dymphna]

luckily i never had the soda problem when on topamax

And did it work for your symptoms?


Dymphna

[diagnosed]

it worked on some yes, but i had to stop it due to severe cognitive impairment

of all the aad's i must say, topamax was the most effective

[dymphna]

it worked on some yes, but i had to stop it due to severe cognitive impairment

of all the aad's i must say, topamax was the most effective

That's one more thing for my mental file, then.

I have never had cognitive impairment from Topamax, even at 450mg. And I'm now also on a pure CAI, Diamox, at 1500mg (it is about 10x stronger than the CAI portion of Topamax) and have no impairment from it, either.

Soda has tasted like ass the entire time I've been on Topamax, except when I was due for a dose increase.


D

ETA: I did have the "holy crap, my brain has been turned upside down" thing when I started Diamox, but it wasn't cognitive impairment so much as "brain starting new drug, re-modeling is occurring". And it passed as soon as I got up to dose and my body stopped freaking out about being on a new drug.

[lostanddelirious]

"ETA: I did have the "holy crap, my brain has been turned upside down" thing when I started Diamox, but it wasn't cognitive impairment so much as "brain starting new drug, re-modeling is occurring". And it passed as soon as I got up to dose and my body stopped freaking out about being on a new drug." -dymphna

I think the same thing. With some drugs you just have to put up with the "stupid" phase if the med is worth it.

[Deep Sea Philosopher]

Dymphna - your infamous soda test..

Is that the baseline for the minimum effective Dopamax dosage, or for the optimum Dopamax dosage?

As for the Stupamax test.. just talk to my Business Calc and Spanish Profs because as Jerod puts it.. "Memory loss, aphasia (weird words coming out in place of what you meant to say or write), word find problems (not being able to recall the names of people, things or concepts)" ...... ya.

[diagnosed]

it worked on some yes, but i had to stop it due to severe cognitive impairment

of all the aad's i must say, topamax was the most effective

That's one more thing for my mental file, then.

I have never had cognitive impairment from Topamax, even at 450mg. And I'm now also on a pure CAI, Diamox, at 1500mg (it is about 10x stronger than the CAI portion of Topamax) and have no impairment from it, either.

Soda has tasted like ass the entire time I've been on Topamax, except when I was due for a dose increase.


D

ETA: I did have the "holy crap, my brain has been turned upside down" thing when I started Diamox, but it wasn't cognitive impairment so much as "brain starting new drug, re-modeling is occurring". And it passed as soon as I got up to dose and my body stopped freaking out about being on a new drug.

you are lucky
i felt like a complete idiot the entire time
only on 600mg

[dymphna]

My theory (and it is a theory) is that, since Topamax works through a combination of a weak CAI and "a bunch of neuro stuff no one understands" -- (seriously! Try asking a neurologist what that other stuff does. You'll get a deer in headlights look, and sometimes some mumbling about calcium channels) -- is that, if a person does not even respond to the baseline "soda tastes like ass" component, the likelihood they will respond to the OTHER, major part is unlikely. The drug does its work because of the interaction of the two parts.

Further, since Topamax is a drug designed to fix cooties of temporal lobe origin, it fits that, when given to people with symptoms of temporal lobe dysfunction, the side effects (including mass stupidity) are minimal or fleeting. When given to people without TL issues, the side effects can be severe and may not leave.

I think that, as anti-convulsants have come into use in psychiatry, many people have forgotten that they are anti-convulsants first and foremost. They were designed to hit certain parts of the brain and do certain things (in this case, stop a partial seizure). That some of them have been found to do other things as well, and those things fall into psychiatry's realm, is just good luck for everyone (including the manufacturer). CAIs are great to make you stop drinking, for example. Topamax is being pushed because it is on patent and therefore people are researching it. Diamox is an off patent pure CAI that costs like 12 cents and does a better job in the no drinks dept. But there's no research.

I'm just saying...


Dymphna

(who is rambling)

[diagnosed]

i forgot to add=i stopped smoking on topamax.
seriously, i couldnt even stop with the help of zyban.
so, in my books a thumbs up

[Jerod Poore]

it worked on some yes, but i had to stop it due to severe cognitive impairment

of all the aad's i must say, topamax was the most effective

That's one more thing for my mental file, then.

I've always been able to drink all the fizzy drinks I wanted to while taking Topamax. The CAI part is irrelevant to me.

Topamax is the second-most broad-spectrum anticonvulsant on the US market. Only Zonegran does more. CAIs are helpful for only small segments of the epilepsy, migraine and misc. brain cooties populations.

[Mrs. Singer]

I haven't had any problems so far with soda. However, I had to give up caffeine because of my migraines. Before I used to drink Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper. Now, I've switched to Sprite and 7-up and they taste fine to me.

Potato chips taste really weird though.

[Mrs. Singer]

Nevermind. As of monday, soda tastes like crap. Potato chips also still taste like crap.

Snapple Apple is pretty damn good though.

[Chamanka]

Does soda tasting crap means that topamax is working cos I tried 400mg one night and soda tasted crap, but on my normal 200 dose it tastes fine. Does this mean I should be on 400mg for optimal effect?

[dymphna]

Does soda tasting crap means that topamax is working cos I tried 400mg one night and soda tasted crap, but on my normal 200 dose it tastes fine. Does this mean I should be on 400mg for optimal effect?

Not necessarily. I am not an actual pharmaceutical researcher, I'm a wonk with a lot of experience on Topamax who actively reads about other people's experiences.

As Jerod wrote above, he has always been able to taste carbonation, and his Topamax definitely has an effect (positive) at his current dose. For me, personally, I lost efficacy each time carbonation "broke through" my (then) current dosing.

On the flip side, I was on Topamax for 8 years. For the first 4 or so, it was the magic drug. The last 4 went from "eh" to nasty-ass lightning bolt zap head side effects. How do I know this? Because when I came off of it, that nasty lightning bolt went away (but the horrific migraines came back). Oh, and alcoholic drinks tasted good again (they had tasted like ass). Weird-ass drug.


Dymphna

[mickmax]

I'm on 150mg and the carbonated crap taste went away after about 3 months for me. Everything tastes fine now.

[Jerod Poore]

The optimal dosage for any medication is the dosage at which said medication works.

The "soda test" is only for people where Topamax's action as a Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitor (CAI) has something to do with Topamax doing its thing for their brain cooties. For most people a CAI doesn't do much good for epilepsy, bipolar disorder, migraines, what have you.

Topamax is a mild-to-moderate CAI and it's still up in the air as to what, if any effect that has on various conditions. Drugs that are nothing but CAIs are usually prescribed to treat glaucoma and altitude sickness, and are thrown at epilepsy when nothing else seems to be working. Being a CAI is probably responsible for the rare metabolic acidosis side effect.

[Chamanka]

Would being a CAI work for impulse control disorders such as alcoholism and bulimia? I am taking topamax for severe bulimia. I am schizoaffective but that's incidental, I'm taking tegretol for that. Soda tastes quite sour but hasn't lost the carbonation. When I took 400mg it went completely sour and lost all carbonation. Since, as dymphna helpfully pointed out, tegretol reduces topamax plasma concetration by 40 percent, should I be looking for a higher dose?

thanks for all your help

[Jerod Poore]

Would being a CAI work for impulse control disorders such as alcoholism and bulimia? I am taking topamax for severe bulimia.

File that one under who knows. Topamax is broad-spectrum, so it could be anything.

Since, as dymphna helpfully pointed out, tegretol reduces topamax plasma concetration by 40 percent, should I be looking for a higher dose?

Only if the lower dosage isn't working.

[arcady59]

I started Topamax a few weeks ago and I cannot believe how it changed the way sodas tasted so much. I drank soda like coffee addicts drink coffee; now my beloved Coke Zero and Diet Dr Pepper taste pretty bad. I still end up drinking one or 2 a day out of habit, but it is mostly water or iced tea now, or those individual drink powder packets. I hope the taste comes back, it seems like some of you all have had luck with it.