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Re: Length of time for Depakote (ER) trial? » theo

Posted by Ritch on May 13, 2005, at 9:50:35

In reply to Re: Length of time for Depakote (ER) trial? » Ritch, posted by theo on May 13, 2005, at 0:00:39

> > > What is a fair length of time for trying Depakote (ER) before giving it up? I know SSRI's, TCA's are 4-6 weeks, but aren't anticonvulsants on a shorter timeline to know whether they are going to work or not?
> >
> > With Depakote I would look to see whether manic or "mixed" symptoms (ONLY) are being reduced short term (1-2 weeks) to determine whether it is "working" or not. If those symptoms aren't getting under control then I would either increase the dose or get on something else. Determining whether or not it is helping with "cycling" is more complicated. You would need to see if the next mood cycle was delayed or reduced in intensity and that might take a while if your cycles are longer than a couple of months or so. Looking at Depakote in terms of whether or not it is working with regards to anxiety or depression gets really murky, because it often may not help with a lot of those symptoms, and some people find that they are worsened by Depakote (i.e. anergic depressive states).
>
> Thanks, that's where I am. I wanted to see how it would effect me. I will say, I could see it being good for mania because I kind of feel flat. I will say, I've had no side effects like I did from others, mainly Topamax, which made me feel like something horrible was going to happen to me.
>
> I do think a low dose of Depakote ER plus an AD or stim might be a good combo for me, but definitly not mono. I just finished reading a study on Depakote/Adderall XR combo that looked promising.
>
>

I've been on Depakote + Adderall (plus a pinch of Effexor) in the past and it worked fairly well. Also Depakote + Ritalin seemed to work ok. I just get too much general anxiety from stims.. however I did notice that increasing the Depakote along with the stim helped to erase the anx without seeming to erode the benefits of the stim. Oh BTW, I had to stop the Keppra experiment-it was making me horribly irritable. I slept better and my working memory was much improved, but couldn't tolerate the irritability.


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poster:Ritch thread:496997
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050510/msgs/497265.html