Posted by cache-monkey on November 8, 2005, at 1:21:38
In reply to starting depakote, comments please?, posted by becksA on November 2, 2005, at 19:10:02
> I was diagnosed with a very mild form of bipolarity, maybe cyclothemia. The pdoc suggested this because i also suffer from a great deal of social anxiety, he said it can help with this.
>
> Questions, 1. how helpful can depakote be with social anxiety? and 2. how common/significant is the weight gain side effect?
>Not sure if your pdoc is aware of this, but you probably won't need Depakote to be pushed into the traditional range for classical bipolar if you're soft bipolar. I've read that doses as low as 125-250 mg/day can be beneficial for cyclothymia.
Going too high on the dose can make your depression worse (if you're in a depressive phase). Also, it's really on the higher doses (above 500/750/more depending on the person) that weight gain is really an issue.
As far as the anxiety, I don't really know. I was put on Depakote for suspected soft bipolarity and my (now former) pdoc pushed me up to 1000 mg/day pretty quickly. All I could feel was my depression. I think if I'd stuck at, say, 250 mg/day my experience would have been otherwise.
Best,
cache-monkey
poster:cache-monkey
thread:574664
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051106/msgs/576633.html