I'm chronic and have been on topomax since 99 and think it's wonderful. I take the whole dose at night and don't experience the side effects that bother a lot of people who take it as "directed". My neuro has started RXing it like I take it cause it doesn't bother me and I've been on some pretty high doses - right now I'm only on 100mg.

The pred taper, as Chuck said is only an interim thing to get the prevent into your system.

And the guy needs his head checked about the O2. It doesn't take but a couple of hours to get O2. The Dr. can fax the script to the supplier and you can pick it up. I live out in the boondocks and it doesn't take me long to get my supply and they "deliver".

Good lord! I wish I could take you to my neuro - he KNOWS what he's doing. I just really get upset at docs who don't. Sometimes ya just gotta TRAIN your doc. If this one won't listen to you - fire him and find another one who will.  Some of us have gone thru a bunch before we found one we could deal with.

And another thing - you have to be PROactive in your treatment. Don't take the doc's word for everything. KNOW what you're talking about when you see him. Do your research BEFORE your visit and have it handy. He probably won't know as much as you will. Teach him if he's willing to learn. If not find a doc who's willing.

Hugs BD

I knew a man in N.C. who died at 75 never having a water heater in his house. Why? Because his grandmother's heater exploded (when he was a young kid) and he never trusted them again.

The second leading cause of cancer deaths in men is prostate cancer, although it's quite curable when men allow themselves to be diagnosed and treated.

My point is this: decisions about medical treatments are fraught with human issues and technical/medical considerations which make easy and simple decisions--which are also judicious decisions--increasingly difficult.

As the number of meds & treatments have multiplied and become more potent and effective, the more side effects we have to be aware of and learn how to manage--if we want the benefits they offer. It's simply an illusion to expect high levels of both effectiveness and freedom from side effects: it's just not in the cards. (More than one science type has commented that aspirin would never pass the FDA licensing process were is coming out today: too many side effects.)

I have the perspective of age to remember when major surgery was used to treat infections because antibiotics didn't arrive until I was just getting out of grammar school! Perspective is hard to develop and especially so when dealing with a complex area out of our common experience, e.g., medicine. We do have some good sources of information which only became readily to hand with the advent of the WWW. BUT even these resources can be a problem when we don't know the quality of the information or have the skills/experience to interpret what we find.

Over the years of reading messages here I've often been anxious about the readiness of folks to manipulate drug doses, play with combinations of meds, and not reporting problems to their docs--and blow off a med as bad/useless. Even the most conscientious consumer will have some problems; the ignorant and flippant are setting themselves up for trouble.

In the end, we are all confronted with trying to strike a balance between benefit and potential cost (cost being $, side effects, and degree of effectiveness). But I'm not about to give up on modern medicine because half a life time ago the picture was so limited and even grim!

The chief side effects you'll see from Verapamil are:

Constipation - can be moderated with the use of miralax.  For some this is a deal breaker.

Low heart rate / blood pressure - Can cause dizziness, erectile disfunction, etc.

Heart rythm problems - at high doses used for treating CH about 20% of patients develop heart rythm problem.  This goes away once verapamil is discontinued.  You should have a baseline EKG done before starting the drug.  Another one when you reach your effective dosage.  It should then be repeated every six months while you are on it or any time the dosage is increased.

I have high blood pressure and take 120mg of verapamil year round.  When a cycle starts I switch from once a day to the regular release formulation and build up to 400mg.  It takes about two weeks for me to see relief.  Once I'm there verapamil knocks out ~90% of my hits.  So for me, it is very effective.

I also have IBS so the constipating side effect actually helps.

The biggest thing that I notice is I'm unable to drive my heart rate to its normal arobic range.  I actually have to knock about 30bpm off my target rate.

-Dennis-