Posted by blueberry on April 24, 2006, at 20:56:31
In reply to Depakote Withdrawal - what should I feel?, posted by becksA on April 24, 2006, at 12:03:12
I felt some deep scary crying despair type depression for about 2 days after stopping depakote. It really didn't hit me until about 3 or 4 days after I had stopped. One of the things depakote does is increase dopamine levels in some, not all, parts of the brain. It felt like a serious dopamine crash to me. I was also taking zyprexa, and the two meds together were probably working synergistically somehow on dopamine. So that was probably a factor in my dramatic fall. I took anothe dose of depakote, recovered nice in one day, and then began a slower taper by taking my extended release depakote once every 36 hours instead of 24 hours, and then 44 hours instead of 36, until I was comfortable. A smaller bout of depression did hit, but it wasn't as dramatic, and it was short lived.
No other withdrawal side effects. It was nice to have the fogginess gone.
poster:blueberry
thread:636478
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20060412/msgs/636722.html