Posted by Libby H on October 2, 2000, at 19:22:36
In reply to Re: Does Depakote cause depression?, posted by Carmen on September 18, 1999, at 20:09:25
I know I'm coming in a little late here, but this is an aspect of my treatment that I remember vividly, so...
I was taking Effexor XR 150 mg/day when I went on Depakote for mood swings. I called my pdoc (who is also my therapist) crying because I was overwhelmed by an interpersonal problem at work... The on call doc, having no idea that my doc had actually TOLD me to call in such situations, saw my crying about someone at work as evidence of Bipolar II Rapid-Cycling & managed to sell the diagnosis to my doc, who hadn't really known what to call my particular type of "agitation."
I took Depakote for about three weeks. In that short time, it reduced me to a crying couch potato with barely enough energy to sit up and less mental horsepower than my dog... I gained close to 20 pounds and felt more lethargic, less motivated, and more moody than ever before... I felt barely alive. My family finally insisted that I call my doctor & demand to be taken off Depakote because "it's killing you!" Now, I'm certain that Depakote has helped millions of people & I know several of them personally, but my experience with it proved to my satisfaction that I was NOT Bipolar!
So I did a little research and found I have Attention Deficit Disorder. The mood swings my doc saw were ADD-related. That is, they happened in response to situations that left me feeling overwhelmed. Like one day I locked my keys in my car & ended up sitting on the curb crying for a half hour. I wasn't cryng because of some big hairy emotional problem. I was crying because my brain didn't work & I couldn't make it work well enough to call a locksmith! I had a cell phone, mind you, but my synapses were firing so slowly that I couldn't sequence the events well enough to call a locksmith. Little problems, like having no pen to write numbers with & no memory to memorize them with, were more than I could stand to think about, so I sat down & cried until I finally thought to call a friend who could walk me through getting a pen & writing down the steps...
I read a lot about the differential diagnosis of ADD & BPII/Rapid-Cycling after my horrible experience with Depakote... I found misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder (esp. BPII/Rapid-Cycling) is fairly common in adults who have ADD... I read the symptoms of each disorder to several close friends & family members... All of them said ADD was much closer to the mark for me... So I took that information to my doctor and asked if I could try Ritalin rather than move to another mood stablizer. He said if I WAS Bipolar, it would be a bad move, but agreed anyway, saying
I'd know either way in a few days... He also referred me to a local ADD specialist for diagnosis... After several questionnaires, tests, etc. I was officially diagnosed with ADD. It was a little surprising to my doc because I am somewhat accomplished in spite of the "handicap" of ADD... Still, the tests (not to mention my moods & energy level) before & after Ritalin were amazing!For the past several months, I have been taking Ritalin (60mg/day) for ADD and Wellbutrin SR (300mg/day) for depression. I have never felt better! My motivation & drive are back and my brain even works... most of the time anyway.
:)So stick it out & trust your gut... If something
feels really wrong, it probably is... That's my experience anyway...L.
poster:Libby H
thread:11686
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000926/msgs/45697.html