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     I've been told a lot of different things - but yesterday finally met a neurologist that seemed to understand that there would be a lot of what I am experiencing from the impact and the teeth.

     I also have a history of kidney stones (cystinuria). This dr. prescribed topiramate at a low dosage - Anyway, before filling any prescription, I do check to see what it is about. I have never seen kidney stones mentioned before that I know of - but there it was - and as I researched, I see that when taking this medication, you should increase water intake as it could cause 'calcium' build up kidney stones. My stones (I've had over l800) of them are cystine - but to read this just baffled me. I definitely told the neurologist about my kidneys as I have been prescribed MS Contin for many years for this.

     I am more than frustrated by the headaches - they are horrible - I am also beyond that with my memory, but I am now leery about this medication as I have a genetic disorder as I mentioned (cystinuria) and wonder about increasing my risk of more stones, calcium. I do hope you can answer this.
Very sincerely,
Cathi

REPLY:
Dear Cathi:
You raise some interesting points: persistent post-traumatic headaches are very common. Most of them respond to migraine-specific treatments (i.e., the triptans). Concussive brain injuries happen nearly a million times a year, and headaches are the most common post-concussional symptom. Topamax has a slightly increased incidence of kidney stones vs. what we see in the population at large. It may be wiser to have your doctor pick another medication. Memory can be evaluated and treatments now can be offered that are sort-of "memory" molecules. Because I see a lot of traumatic brain injury (TBI), we have treated people struggling with memory issues sometimes long after a concussion. This is the good news.

John Claude Krusz
 

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