Topamax (Topiramate Tablets)

• Tell all of your health care providers that you take this medicine. This includes your doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and dentists.
• Avoid driving and doing other tasks or actions that call for you to be alert until you see how Topamax affects you.
• Sweating less, heat stroke, and deadly high body temperatures have happened with this medicine. Be careful in hot weather and while being active. Call your doctor right away if you have a fever or you do not sweat during activities or in warm temperatures.
• Patients who take Topamax may be at a greater risk of having thoughts or actions of suicide. The risk may be greater in people who have had these thoughts or actions in the past. Call the doctor right away if signs like low mood (depression), nervousness, restlessness, grouchiness, panic attacks, or changes in mood or actions are new or worse. Call the doctor right away if any thoughts or actions of suicide occur.
• Very bad and sometimes deadly liver problems have happened with this medicine. Call your doctor right away if you have signs of liver problems like dark urine, feeling tired, not hungry, upset stomach or stomach pain, light-colored stools, throwing up, or yellow skin or eyes.
• This medicine may cause an acid blood problem (metabolic acidosis). The chance may be higher in children and in people with kidney problems, breathing problems, or loose stools (diarrhea). The chance may also be higher if you take certain other drugs, if you have surgery, or if you are on a ketogenic diet. Over time, metabolic acidosis can cause kidney stones, bone problems, or growth problems in children. Talk with your doctor.
• This medicine may raise the chance of bleeding. Sometimes, bleeding can be life-threatening. Talk with the doctor.
• This medicine may cause very bad eye problems. If left untreated, this can lead to lasting eyesight loss. Call your doctor right away if you have new eye signs like blurred eyesight or other changes in eyesight, eye pain, or eye redness.
• Taking Topamax with valproic acid can cause low body temperature. This can also cause tiredness, confusion, or coma. Talk with the doctor.
• Use with care in children. Talk with the doctor.
• This medicine may affect growth in children and teens in some cases. They may need regular growth checks. Talk with the doctor.
• Birth control pills and other hormone-based birth control may not work as well to prevent pregnancy. Use some other kind of birth control also like a condom when taking this medicine.
• Use birth control that you can trust to prevent pregnancy while taking Topamax.
• This medicine may cause harm to the unborn baby if you take it while you are pregnant. If you are pregnant or you get pregnant while taking this medicine, call your doctor right away.
• Tell your doctor if you are breast-feeding. You will need to talk about any risks to your baby.

Use Topamax as ordered by your doctor. Read all information given to you. Follow all instructions closely.

• Take with or without food.
• To gain the most benefit, do not miss doses.
• Keep taking this medicine as you have been told by your doctor or other health care provider, even if you feel well.
• Do not stop taking Topamax (topiramate tablets) all of a sudden without calling your doctor. You may have a greater risk of seizures. If you need to stop this drug, you will want to slowly stop it as ordered by your doctor.
• Drink lots of noncaffeine liquids unless told to drink less liquid by your doctor.
• Have blood work checked as you have been told by the doctor. Talk with the doctor.
• Talk with your doctor before you use other drugs and natural products that slow your actions.
• Swallow whole. Do not chew, break, or crush.
• Avoid drinking alcohol while taking this medicine.

What do I do if I miss a dose?

• Take a missed dose as soon as you think about it.
• If it is less than 6 hours until the next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to the normal time.
• Do not take 2 doses at the same time or extra doses.
• If you miss 2 doses, call your doctor.

If you think there has been an overdose, call your poison control center or get medical care right away. Be ready to tell or show what was taken, how much, and when it happened.

• Store at room temperature.
• Protect from light.
• Store in a dry place. Do not store in a bathroom.
• Keep all drugs in a safe place. Keep all drugs out of the reach of children and pets.
• Check with your pharmacist about how to throw out unused drugs.