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Topiramate - Safety and Tolerability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

M.W. Jones
M.W. Jones*
Affiliation:
Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
*
Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, Room 218 - 2775 Heather Street, Vancouver, British Columbia , Canada V5Z 1M9
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Abstract:

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Topiramate is a new novel drug for the treatment of intractable seizures that is to be used in an adjunctive fashion. A review of the seven double-blind controlled studies was undertaken with special attention paid to safety and tolerability data. The studies were similar in design but used varying doses of the drug. To date there has been no evidence of serious systemic side effects such as rash, hepatotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, serious gastrointestinal toxicity or aplastic anemia. Renal stones were reported in 1.5% of patients with over 80% choosing to remain on the drug because of an improved quality of life. The unique observation of “abnormal thinking” was seen that seemed to be related to high doses and introducing the drug too rapidly. Patients, rather than describing psychomotor slowing, described a phenomenon of slow thoughts, decreased cognition, intermittent difficulty calculating, dulled thinking, blunted mental reactions. Lastly, weight loss appears in approximately 10-20% of patients and is probably related to dulling of appetite. Although increasing doses gave increasing degrees of seizure freedom, it appeared that doses beyond 600 mg/day are often not well tolerated.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 25 , Issue S3 , August 1998 , pp. S13 - S15
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1998

References

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