Posted by blueberry1 on February 7, 2007, at 19:30:41
In reply to DEPAKOTE - positive experiences + how long?, posted by chiron on February 7, 2007, at 9:44:11
I can't speak for depakote alone because when I tried it at 500mgER I was also on 5mg zyprexa and 25mg zoloft.
I had immediate antidepressant action in 24 hours. Best I had felt in a very long time. For the next month I commented in my notes "not depressed, just blah". But I've been blah with all meds. Being not depressed was more of a blessing than I had realized at the time now that I look back on it.
While weaning off depakote because I didn't think it was doing anything I ended up in the emergency room in a crying sobbing despair crash. Felt like a dopamine crash like the comedown after cocaine or amphetamines. They told me to go home and take my depakote. Not within 24 hours, but within 48 hours I was back to being undepressed and blah again.
I tried depakote by itself since then. First few hours I felt a soft warmth comfort mood lift. Again the second day. The third day I could feel my depression was getting a lot worse and it scared me away. Felt better after I stopped it. I think somehow depakote works in combination with antidepressant or antipsychotic but not by itself, for depression. Except, there was someone here a while back that was depression cured with 2500mg depakote.
Strange thing though. While it is supposed to be good for anxiety, I actually had my anxiety increase a notch while on it.
poster:blueberry1
thread:730740
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070207/msgs/730929.html