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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Mikey_C on March 6, 2003, at 9:40:54
Is this a hard drug to withdrawal from? Should I be experiencing any major side effects once I start my withdrawal process? Is it alright to quit Depakote cold turkey? I'm on 500mg per day of Depakote at the moment and have been for about 4 months. I'm also on 100mg of Seroquel and have only been at this level for about 4 days. I would like to see how well the Seroquel handles my anxiety since my Doctors have diagnosed me as NOT being Bi-Polar and have recommended that the Seroquel be used as one of my primary medications instead of Depakote.Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
Posted by tina on March 6, 2003, at 10:33:08
In reply to Withdrawing from Depakote, posted by Mikey_C on March 6, 2003, at 9:40:54
Hey Mikey
the last time I was on depakote, I was only taking 250mgs but I just stopped it cold turkey and didn't feel any adverse effects. Having said that, it might be good to ween off of it instead just to be sure you don't have withdrawal effects because as we all know, "your mileage may vary"
why are you going off of it, if you don't mind my asking?
tina
Posted by Mikey_C on March 6, 2003, at 10:43:34
In reply to Re: Withdrawing from Depakote, posted by tina on March 6, 2003, at 10:33:08
Well, my professional diagnosis (for what it's worth) is that I'm not Bi-Polar, but I'm Anxiety NOS or something like that. The way the Doctor described it to my Father and I was that I'm suffering from a bit of depression, a bit of anxiety, some post-traumatic stress, and increased the severity of all of that through years of drug abuse. So.... It has been recommended that I get onto Seroquel and stop using Depakote, and after the Depakote is safely out of my blood, add a little bit of Lamictal to my Seroquel and Clonazepam.I'm expecting that early next week, once my Therapist is back from her vacation, she is going to help me get off of the Depakote and eventually start up the Lamictal like the Mood Disorders Specialist who completed my diagnosis recommended that I do. Of course she'll probably ask me to take it slowly... but I'm too impatient for that... If I'm going to stop using a particular drug I'd more than likely just stop taking it altogether and suffer the side effects for a few days instead of going slowly through it and suffering minor side effects for a few weeks.
At the moment, I have no anxiety whatsoever and am sleeping like a baby BUT my motivation has completely disappeared and I'm starting to feel my mood kind of bottoming out again, which will lead me back into depression. It's like I have too many meds in me that are working on sedating me so that I don't become manic and don't have panic attacks BUT since my mood is used to jumping both up AND down, it's starting to decide to just go down and stay there.
Anyways, from what the Doctor said that gave me my Diagnosis said, and my Therapist will most likely follow her recommendations, I'm to be taken off of Depakote in the near future and was just kind of wondering how bad it would be to go about it cold turkey. As long as it's nothing similar to my Effexor withdrawal, I think I'll be able to handle it.
Posted by Ritch on March 6, 2003, at 13:31:11
In reply to Withdrawing from Depakote, posted by Mikey_C on March 6, 2003, at 9:40:54
>
> Is this a hard drug to withdrawal from? Should I be experiencing any major side effects once I start my withdrawal process? Is it alright to quit Depakote cold turkey? I'm on 500mg per day of Depakote at the moment and have been for about 4 months. I'm also on 100mg of Seroquel and have only been at this level for about 4 days. I would like to see how well the Seroquel handles my anxiety since my Doctors have diagnosed me as NOT being Bi-Polar and have recommended that the Seroquel be used as one of my primary medications instead of Depakote.
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike
The first time I withdrew from Depakote it was when I was taking 500mg/day. I was told to cut the dose in half for one week, then in half again for another and then stop. I didn't have any troubles until I stopped. Then there was a week or two of agitation, but it went away quickly after that. If you are on that much Seroquel you might not notice it that much.
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