![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by becksA on April 24, 2006, at 12:03:12
I've been taking 1250mg daily of depakote for cyclothemic behavior....anyway, it was doing nothing for me, if not worsening things. SO i'm tapering off it. what are common side effects, good or bad, that i can watch for, to know that its coming from coming off the depakote?
I can already say I feel like I'm in a slightly better mood, and my voice slurring (that i thought was caused by the klonopin) seems to have diminished significantly. However it has only been a couple days so i dont want to jump the gun.
thanks
Posted by SLS on April 24, 2006, at 13:00:10
In reply to Depakote Withdrawal - what should I feel?, posted by becksA on April 24, 2006, at 12:03:12
> I've been taking 1250mg daily of depakote for cyclothemic behavior....anyway, it was doing nothing for me, if not worsening things. SO i'm tapering off it. what are common side effects, good or bad, that i can watch for, to know that its coming from coming off the depakote?
>
> I can already say I feel like I'm in a slightly better mood, and my voice slurring (that i thought was caused by the klonopin) seems to have diminished significantly. However it has only been a couple days so i dont want to jump the gun.I never experienced any withdrawal effects from discontinuing Depakote. I've used rapid tapers just as a precaution against precipitating a seizure. Some people have reported anxiety as a withdrawal symptom.
I'm glad you are feeling better.
- Scott
Posted by becksA on April 24, 2006, at 16:37:08
In reply to Re: Depakote Withdrawal - what should I feel?, posted by SLS on April 24, 2006, at 13:00:10
thanks
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.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Withdrawal | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.