Important Organizations & Resources
The following organizations and services are provided for further support and information.
Clicking on any of the links below will take you to a Web site to which this Privacy Policy does not apply. You are solely responsible for your interactions with any of these Web sites.
Epilepsy Foundation
The Epilepsy Foundation is a national, charitable organization dedicated to the welfare of people with epilepsy. Your local chapter can provide education, counseling, job placement, social support, and other resources.
4351 Garden City Drive
Landover, MD 20785-7223
301-459-3700 / 1-800-332-1000
www.epilepsyfoundation.org
NIH/NINDS Office of Communication and Public Liaison
PO Box 5801
Bethesda, MD 20824
301-496-5751 / 1-800-352-9424
www.ninds.nih.gov
Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE)
730 N. Franklin St.
Suite 404
Chicago, IL 60610
312-255-1801
www.CUREepilepsy.org
Child Neurology Foundation
An organization dedicated to helping children and adolescents with neurologic and developmental disorders.
www.childneurologyfoundation.org
Many people use the Internet to learn about medical disorders. Some sources have accurate, credible information; others do not. If you consult the Internet for information on epilepsy or its treatment, make sure the site is reliable such as:
www.epilepsy.com
www.seizures.net
www.familydoctor.org
About TOPAMAX
TOPAMAX is approved as initial monotherapy in patients 10 years of age and older with partial-onset
or primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures.
Effectiveness was demonstrated in a controlled trial in patients with epilepsy who had no more
than 2 seizures in the 3 months prior to enrollment. Safety and effectiveness in patients
who were converted to monotherapy from a previous regimen of other anticonvulsant drugs have not
been established in controlled trials.
TOPAMAX is approved as add-on therapy for patients 2 years of age and older with primary generalized
tonic-clonic seizures, partial-onset seizures, or seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.
Important Safety Information
Serious risks associated with TOPAMAX include lowered bicarbonate levels in the blood resulting in an
increase in the acidity of the blood (metabolic acidosis). Symptoms could include hyperventilation
(rapid, deep breathing), tiredness, loss of appetite, irregular heartbeat or changes in the level of alertness.
Call your doctor immediately if you get these symptoms. Your doctor may want to do simple blood tests. Chronic,
untreated metabolic acidosis may increase the risk for kidney stones or bone disease.
Other serious risks include decreased sweating, increased body temperature, kidney stones, sleepiness,
dizziness, confusion, difficulty concentrating, and increased eye pressure (glaucoma). Call your doctor
immediately if you have any decrease in vision or eye pain. These problems can lead to blindness if not
treated right away.
More common side effects in adults are nervousness, coordination problems, fatigue, speech problems, slowed
thinking, memory difficulty, tingling in arms and legs, and double vision; and in children, fatigue, loss of appetite,
nervousness, memory difficulty, aggressive behavior, and weight loss.
As monotherapy, the most common side effects of TOPAMAX (in the 400 mg/day group and at a rate higher than the 50
mg/day group) in adults were tingling in arms and legs, weight decrease, sleepiness, loss of appetite, dizziness, and
difficulty with memory; and in children, weight decrease, upper respiratory tract infection, tingling in arms and legs,
loss of appetite, diarrhea, and mood problems.
In combination with other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), the most common side effects of TOPAMAX in adults (200 to 400 mg/day)
were sleepiness, dizziness, nervousness, loss of muscle coordination, fatigue, speech disorders and related problems, psychomotor
slowing, abnormal vision, difficulty with memory, tingling in arms and legs, and double vision; and in children (5 to 9 mg/kg/day), fatigue,
sleepiness, loss of appetite, nervousness, difficulty with concentration/attention, difficulty with memory, aggressive reaction, and weight decrease.
Tell your doctor about other medications you take.
Please see full U.S. Prescribing Information.
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This information is intended for use by our customers, patients and healthcare professionals in the United States only. Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. recognizes that the Internet is a global communications medium; however, laws, regulatory requirements and medical practices for pharmaceutical products vary from country to country. The prescribing information included here may not be appropriate for use outside the United States.
This site was last modified on: Jul 26 2007 at 13:45:30 EDT