I am thinking of asking my doctor about Depakote. I feel that I am having mixed episodes and that they are rapid cycling. I read more on Bipolar I and Bipolar II and finally found a web page that I could make sense of and understand the differences between them. I feel that I am Bipolar II and have mixed episodes that rapid cycle. I don't know if that is even right or could be but I am definately going to ask my doctor about it. This needs to stop or at least slow down. I have been sleeping alot and that is a sure sign for me (18 hours) and can't function. Other than working I have no want for activities or rather I don't have the energy to try. I have such fatigue and it is driving me up the wall. So I am going to ask about Depakote and pray that this medicine will work for me. I am going to get an appointment and hopefully see my doctor soon. I will keep everyone informed about how this medicine treats me. I was wondering if any of you guys can give me some information on how it treats your symptoms?
I am thinking of asking my doctor about Depakote. I feel that I am having mixed episodes and that they are rapid cycling. I read more on Bipolar I and Bipolar II and finally found a web page that I could make sense of and understand the differences between them. I feel that I am Bipolar II and have mixed episodes that rapid cycle. I don't know if that is even right or could be but I am definately going to ask my doctor about it. This needs to stop or at least slow down. I have been sleeping alot and that is a sure sign for me (18 hours) and can't function. Other than working I have no want for activities or rather I don't have the energy to try. I have such fatigue and it is driving me up the wall. So I am going to ask about Depakote and pray that this medicine will work for me. I am going to get an appointment and hopefully see my doctor soon. I will keep everyone informed about how this medicine treats me. I was wondering if any of you guys can give me some information on how it treats your symptoms?
Best wishes to all
I'm a rapid cycler with BPI and I've been taking Depakote for the past 3 years.
Depakote is one of the mood stabilizers designed to treat rapid cycling, but my cycling wasn't controlled until Fluoxetine and Klonopin were added to my regimen. I've gone from rapid cycling every hour and sometimes every minute to no cycling at all.
Depakote has been a great med for me overall and has prevented me from having a severe manic/psychotic episode.
When I started taking it, I was extremely tired, but this gradually improved within 2 weeks.
Another med you may want to consider for rapid cycling is Lamictal. It is rated second to Depakote in terms of how well it treats rapid cycling.
Of course, experiences vary from person to person and what works well for one person may not work well for another.
By the way, my pdoc wanted to switch me to Lamictal last week (due to the fact that it treats rapid cycling), but I chose to continue taking my current dose of Depakote instead since I'm afraid of having another severe manic/psychotic episode like I did in 2006 and because my moods have remained pretty stable over the past month.
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Atypical Bipolar I Disorder with Rapid Cycling
Meds:
Depakote 1500mg
Prozac 40mg
Risperdal 1mg titrating to 6mg/day
Klonopin .5mg (2x/day)
Trazodone 100mg or 200mg PRN
I'm on depakote and it has kept me fairly stable since my diagnosis. It doesn't do much for the depression but keeps the moods level.
From what I understand, Depakote doesn't really address depression, but it will even your moods out enough so that you don't end up swinging too far in either direction. (i.e. mania or depression)
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Atypical Bipolar I Disorder with Rapid Cycling
Meds:
Depakote 1500mg
Prozac 40mg
Risperdal 1mg titrating to 6mg/day
Klonopin .5mg (2x/day)
Trazodone 100mg or 200mg PRN
Hi,
Yes, it is. Although I am an ultra rapid cycler, my doctor chose to use lithium. My pharmacist said even though it was the first drug introduced for Manic Depression (BP) in the 1950's, it is an oldie but goodie and very inexpensive. Depakote, according to my doctor and pharmacist is a good medication, it just causes severe weight gain which then messes with your tryglcerides which is very dangerous for your heart. Lamictal is another, although expensive as well. Lamictal worked well for me years ago, but not during the recent reintroduction. It's all so complex because there is not one drug that will treat the illness, as say, insulin helps but doesn't cure diabetes. All I can advise is to keep trying. Surround yourself with positive people who are supportive!!!!! Oh....and there is patient assistance available for Lamictal and Depakote for those who are underinsured and uninsured. God Bless!
Donna
Everyone responds differently to meds, but weight gain is practically universal with this drug. Even if you did not eat, you will still gain weight. I gained 30 lbs. on Depakote. It also made me really tired. I had to sleep 12 hours a day. I take Tegretol now. I don't know if its working now. I think its my antidepressant that does not work. But the Tegretol will keep you thin. There are other side effects though. I have neurological deficits (trouble remembering words, speaking difficulties). Its embarrassing. This is all part of the curse of bipolar. As if its not bad enough to have it, then there's the side effects of the meds. Its enough to exhaust a person.
I agree completely, I started on an antidepressant, pushing me into a manic episode. I felt wired, like too much coffee, but tired at the same time, my vision started getting blurry and my thoughts very rapid and driven, motivated, but unorganized and relentless.
My Dr. started me on lithium, which I responded well to. However, I was working out consistently at the time I started the drug. two weeks into therapy, I stopped working out, and the effects of the drug also decreased to the point where I could feel it wasnt enough, narrow therapeutic range. Then because of my anxiety I took measure into my own hands and started double dosing. Which combined with my clonopin, irregular eating and constant exposure to medication, made me bleed in my upper GI tract.
Once I started lithium, my anxiety, left unaddressed, took over. I was panicking all the time, started up on klonopin. That was the best combination I had until I got the tarry stool. I was in and out of four hospitals until i started shitting out old blood. It was painful, frustrating, debilitating process, all while I had school on top of that.
Then I was switched to Buspar, which made me super tired, dizzy, and incapacitated for the first week I took. Again, my panick and noncompliance with instructions made me take too much buspar then I panicked and quit the medication altogether, had the worst withdrawal, lightening zaps in my brain. all the while hospitals telling me Im fine.
Then my doc gave me xanax and antidepressant light does to see if it would work with the lithium to help instead of using xanax long term. It pushed me into more drug induced mania. Then I went abroad for vacation for three months, stupid on my part not being completely stable but I planned this for a year and a half. I had to wean off of xanax cause it was the only thing helping me with the lithium, then I had panick symptoms all the time weaning off of it. Then I went to the hospital for gastroenteritis, found out i have prostatitis on top of that, was treated for both, turns out the prostatitis is non bacterial, goodie, another problem you cant solve, just cope.
While abroad keep in mind, Then for the past month and a half I have been feeling nauseous and fatigued, I have had panick symptoms here and there, the docs abroad didnt want to give me meds for more than a month even though it cost money to travel and get more meds. I was on Clorazepate while abroad and it works well. not too hard or soft, after a week aor two you start feeling an effect aftger the main dose wears off. I had that with Valium to sleep. Combination worked pretty well. I ran out of the medication. Went back to the hospital because of panic attacks manifesting itself by me feeling symptoms of high blood pressure by being off anti anxiety medication. Started feeling fatigued and that the lithium wasnt enough while not working out, so I started taking allowed dosage by docs instructins. That gave me a full feeling in my brain, pressure, like it was too much, scared me so I went off meds completely, since then things have been a wreck, but it seems like things have been a wreck ever since.
Now Im homw trying to get school done and wanted to try something different so my doc said trileptal. Now I am suffering from light sensitivity, itchiness, blothes (looks like bug bits, on skin, that itch. and above all my last semester of school and the worst side effect is being confused, stupid, and short term memory impairment. This is rediculous. A mess.
Sorry I know this has nothing to do with depakote, just had to find somewhere toget it off my chest.
Good luck to you with depakote, honestly I hope no side effects and it all works out. different side effects for everyone, neurochemistry nd biochemistry is different, really is not point asking ppl what happened to them besides get an idea of what could happen, only way to know for sure is by trying it yourself, which is the downfall and blessing of drugs.
My Dad took a small dosage of Depakote for BP2 and it did seem to help. He had no side effects but did develop neuropathy in his feet, so I'm not sure if it would have happened anyway....
Just started Depakote yesterday. My doctor has had 20 years of experience with Bipolar and swears by the drug. I have high hopes that Depakote will help me and hope it will be the answer for you as well. I'm a little drowsy today, but side affects are common.... Good luck to you!
I have taken Depakote for quite a few years, because after trying others this is what felt the best for me. I did keep asking for an anti-depressant to add to it but my Psych wouldn't let me because he said it would just trigger my mania which for me is raging anger. He kept suggesting Lithium, but I was afraid of it, for some reason I thought it was a heavy duty drug that made you a drooling zombie. I've also been taking Clonazepam for anxiety episodes for years. I recently added the Lithium, and I think it is helping me feel a bit happier. Good Luck!
I have rapid cycling BP11, with mixed affective thrown in periodically - not every time I have an episode; but I can guarantee having at least 4 big episodes and half a dozen small episodes (of 10 days hypo and 4 weeks depressed, and then the up and down in a matter of hours - although I often don't catch the hypo until I realise I am crashing again - and review my erratic behaviour, speech, spending, and sexual risk taking behaviour, plus alcohol!) Typical signs.
I have been on Depakote for 12 years. Started at 750mg; then increased in hospital to 2500mgs about 2yrs later - I didn't have a psych who monitored me so my life had fallen apart. After a year I was down to 1750 mgs which was my maintenance dose. I noticed weight gain, hair loss, that came back curly! (that was a plus). Over the yrs I have managed to reduce the weight. Never back to original size 10(uk) but okay at a 12.
However, I have had to take Olanzapine (Zyprexa) as a adjunct when in psychosis (mania) occasionally, and more recently Dec 2010 - Mar 2011 Venlafaxine for depression and then even more recently (current) 300mgs of Quetiapine (Seroquel) for depression again.
My psych wants to switch me now to Lithium because it is becoming clearer that my depakote no longer does the trick. With the number of adjunct meds I am taking; plus they don't really want to increase the depakote higher as a maintenance med.
The quetiapine has pushed me into a hypo again - I am in a mixed affective state at the moment (say 7 weeks) so it was expected; so I will decrease it tonight to 200mgs.
Anyway, what I would say about Depakote. It's a good med. it has done me well for the majority of time I have been diagnosed. My psych tells me Lithium and Depakote are equal in treating symptoms in that they are stabilisers. I had thought it was for the depressive BP1's of us - this is not true. Give it a go. There's no harm in trying; after all, all any of us wants is some peace x
Last edited by Administrator; 09-28-2012 at 09:15 AM.
Re: Depakote for Bipolar II ? 
