Topamax Side Effects: Children Develop Birth Defects

The FDA has posted the following warning regarding Topamax (topiramate) and its potential side effects:

If you take topiramate during pregnancy, there is a higher risk that your baby will develop a cleft lip and/or cleft palate. Oral clefts happen early in pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant. For this reason, women of childbearing age should talk to their healthcare professionals about other treatment options.

Many women were prescribed Topamax or the generic Topiramate for migraines and epileptic fits. However, what seemed like an innocuous cure for migraines can actually cause birth defects if taken while pregnant.

 "Oral clefts occur in the first trimester of pregnancy before many women know they are pregnant." Pregnancy doesn't always register immediately. Tragically, by the time women taking topamax realized they were pregnant, the birth defects (mainly cleft lips and cleft palates) had already been formed.

The FDA also provided the following breakdown of Topamax facts:

• An anticonvulsant medication FDA-approved for use alone or with other medications to treat patients with epilepsy who have certain types of seizures.
• FDA-approved for use to prevent migraine headaches, but not to relieve the pain of migraine headaches when they occur.¹
• Has been used off-label (for unapproved uses) for other conditions, some of which may not be considered serious.
• From January 2007 through December 2010, approximately 32.3 million topiramate prescriptions were dispensed and approximately 4.3 million patients filled topiramate prescriptions from the outpatient retail pharmacies in the U.S.

Visit the FDA for more information.

see also:

Topamax and Birth Defects Topamax is a Class D medication: it can cause birth defects.
If you took Topamax while pregnant, and your child was born with borth defects, our lawyers can help. Visit Weitz & Luxenberg to learn more.

2007 Health Advisories Pre-made Colistimethate May Link to Cystic Fibrosis Patient's Death
Cystic Fibrosis Patient Dies After Using Pre-Mixed Colistimethate

Drugs What You Need to Know about the Link Between Gleevec and Heart Failure
Link Between Gleevec and Heart Failure--New Precautions added to Label