Shoreline

H SNJ, Sorry your having a tough time with the Dopamax, I mean Toppamax. Many people do complain about the sedation of the whole class of antiseizure meds used to help nerve pain. There is no doubt it causes cognative impairment, you get used to some but will reach a point where you know it's time to back down or DC.

The reason the titration is slow and the increases only weakly is because you do get used to the groggyness. Up to a point at least. Most people will accomadate to the side effects up untill whatever dose they can tolerate. When I tried Neurontin I did OK up until the last increase and then I would forget where I was going when heading to the grocery store a mile and a half away.

Fortunately I don't have the burning leg pain, the surgerries did relieve that , My backs a mess but I don't really qualify for needing a med for neuropathic pain. I felt much better when I discontinued several meds after changing docs. My first one believed in the shotgun aproach. Hit you with low doses of many meds rather than giving you enough opiate to not need all the other crud.

I changed docs, He increased my meth dose 50% and I stopped taking Neurontin,,Zanaflex, Ambien, advil and tylenol. I would have taken anything to relieve the pain prior to seeing him. Now I have decent pain management and feel I have control and can say no if the doc wants to play guinea pig. I take care of my liver and kidneys and avoid all apap and NSAID's

I was then able to spend almost 21/2 years on the same dose and my new doc believes in BT meds, my old wanted me to use one of the pain relieving modalities tought at her pain clinic, Biofeedback or some relaxation techniques, stretching etc.

What a difference a change in docs and philosophy can make. Good luck, Shore