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Re: depakote ER menstrual changes

Posted by Minnie-Haha on February 14, 2005, at 17:08:05

In reply to depakote ER menstrual changes, posted by nicki on February 14, 2005, at 12:36:56

> I have been on depakote ER over 3 weeks and I have not had a period. I'm over a month and a half late. I saw under serious side effects a change in menstrual cycles. Does anyone know what this means or if anyone has experienced this? or if anythingn has happened to their reprod system. I took 3 preg tests and I am not pregnant.

I will answer this, but first for a little background. In 1998, I went on Zoloft for depression. It worked for awhile, but some months later I became very anxious/agitated. I was DXd as BP2, taken off the Zoloft and put on Depakote and Effexor. This was about my 40th birthday. The Dep/Eff combo seemed to work pretty well for a couple of years, but I gained 30 pounds and I started to have VERY heavy, long, and irregular periods. (Until then they were like clockwork: every 28-30, lasting 3-5 days. No heavy bleeding and only infrequent cramping.) I ended up having an endometrial ablation, which stopped the bleeding (I didn't have a period for over a year). It was also about this time that I asked my pdoc for an alternative to the Depakote, since the weight gain was causing me to be depressed. She switched me to Trileptal. Once on it, I slowly started to lose some of the weight.

I think it is strange that you started missing periods only three weeks after starting Depakote, but I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility that there is a link. Have you read about the connection between Depakote (and other drugs that cause rapid weight gain, like Zyprexa) and Metabolic Syndrome? Here is one link:

http://www.psycheducation.org/hormones/Insulin/metabolicmood.htm

Good luck solving your mystery!

Minnie

For what it's worth, I really didn't notice an increase in my appetite while I was on Depakote. It felt more like my metabolism changed. I am gaining a little weight on Cymbalta now, but I have definitely noticed an increase in my appetite on it, which I'm not sure is typical.


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