Posted by Lithia on May 13, 2006, at 10:04:20
In reply to Being switched to epival(depakote)... ?'s, posted by fiftylager on May 12, 2006, at 9:04:50
Hi Fiftylager,
Yes, Epival is the Canadian brand name for divalproate\depakote. What exactly are you worried about? I took it for a month at 750 mg day (standard dose for mania). At 37.5 mg I can't imagine that you would be experiencing any effect at all. 750 mg put me at the correct blood level in one week.
It did not work out for me (I have a reaction to it, very rare and it will not happen to you)and I have been switched to lithium. When you get to a higher dosage you can expect gastrointestinal distress. TAKE IT WITH FOOD!! It will help. Longterm effects most are concerned with are weight gain and hairloss but that is not something that will happen overnight.
To give it credit as much as I despise divalproate for the damage it did to me, it DID kick my mania in the *ss.
It's worth a shot. Good luck on the med go round.
poster:Lithia
thread:642950
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060510/msgs/643413.html