Posted by judy1 on October 18, 2002, at 19:32:51
In reply to Re: Questions about Depakote (Epival) » judy1, posted by MJC on October 17, 2002, at 18:28:45
Hi,
My first reaction to your mood swings is effexor- how long have you been on it? have you had a recent dose increase? ADs are contraindicated by every bipolar specialist I have seen (sorry to keep repeating this). You are on a very minimal dose of depakote, so you must be pretty sensitive to meds; as you suspect the sedation will wear off. I was on just about every mood stabilizer made, and depakote is the only effective one for my manic episodes- I do not take it daily, however- I take it when I am starting an episode. This is a fairly controversial approach, and will only work if you have a very trusting relationship with your shrink. When I took it on a daily basis (for a couple of years) I gained a few pounds- zyprexa is the real villian when it comes to weight gain. If you feel the effexor is not the cause of your mood swings, then you may be going through some cycling right now and the amount of depakote you are taking is not enough to stop that. I suggest you tell your pdoc, I imagine he was trying to take you up slowly to an effective dose because of your sensitivity to medication. hope this helped some- judy
poster:judy1
thread:124012
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021012/msgs/124177.html