Posted by SLS on March 4, 2005, at 3:23:20
In reply to Depakote will either kill you or save you, posted by Spriggy on March 3, 2005, at 20:01:55
Your summation of Depakote is actually pretty accurate if one were to caricaturize it. However, since your life is not a cartoon, you should seriously try to gain as much insight into Depakote as possible before making your decision.
Sometimes it is best to look at the role a mood stabilizer plays by looking at the natural course of the illness and how it presents itself; the occurrences of depression, the occurrences of mania, the amount of time spent in each phase, and symptomology. It is also important to look at which drugs it will be combined with.
Depakote is a good drug for many people. The description of side effects that RemedyFind lists as occurs with Depakote lacks in their explanation an idea as to how frequently these side effects occur, nor the percentage of people whose lives are changed for the better by Depakote. Any complete list of the possible side effects that have been associated with the drugs used in medicine can look like a perilous minefield without the benefit of perspective. My guess is that a disproportionately large number of people hanging out at that site are those who have failed treatment, so their opinions might be skewed against those remedies most often tried. Perhaps satisfied customers don't end up on the Internet to complain about their treatment by voting on RemedyFind.
I can tell you from personal experience that Depakote does have the potential to produce antidepressant effects when combined with the right antidepressants. For some people, it will act alone to stabilize their illness such that they need no antidepressants. On the other hand, Depakote can make some people's depression mildly worse.
The liver thing is for real. You should have a liver test performed before beginning treatment with Depakote. I forget what the standard recommendation is for how often to have your blood tested during early in treatment. Maybe after the first month and bimonthly thereafter. If anything untoward is going to happen, it usually shows up during the first six months. Thereafter, blood tests are needed much less frequently. My memory is failing me at the moment, but you might end up needing only two tests per year. Blood platelet numbers can be reduced by Depakote, but this is not very common, and is most likely to occur at very high dosages (2000mg). Sedation and drowsiness are usually startup side effects and disappear within one or two weeks. Weight gain and alopecia are not infrequent, although I can't provide a statistic at the moment. As is true with most of the antidepressants, you might have to assess what you have to gain by treatment versus the propensity of these drugs to produce weight gain.
You do have some control over the situation. I really don't have any recommendations for you. Even if I were inclined to offer one, I don't know nearly enough about you. I am hoping that your doctor does. If (hypo)mania is problematic or precedes a depressive episode, I think Depakote can be justified as a first choice. If it were me, I wouldn't be afraid of its side effect profile. Be sure to have liver tests. If you are unhappy with the way you feel and are troubled by the magnitude of side effects, you can always stop taking it without the fear that these effects are irreversible.
Was Lamictal discussed? What were the particulars?
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:466201
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050227/msgs/466315.html