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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Tedr on January 7, 2002, at 13:31:28
I keep trying to find an answer to a med that I can tolerate besides a benzo(xanax,tranzene etc.) But everything else is just to hard to deal with. My Pdoc recently insisted I try Depakote in small doses 125mg twice a day. I wake up so fuzzy headed, I can't work. This doesn't happen with the benzos. I don't even think I can continue on for a few more days on the Depakote, to see if spaciness and dead headedness disappears. I would definitely try the Neurontin to get back to feeling calmer and less agitated and confused. I also take Wellbutrin SR for the depression side. I am just a bundle of nerves right now, but I need to work, and my job requires a good degree of mental sharpness. The pdoc, could he possibly be concerned about Neurontin, and it being hard to get off of too, like the benzos? I need some answers...TR
Posted by Krazy Kat on January 7, 2002, at 14:28:49
In reply to Re: Depakote for anxiety/anger/depreseeion, posted by Tedr on January 7, 2002, at 13:31:28
TR:
I can't imagine why your pdoc would prescribe Depakote but not Neurontin. My experience with Neurontin has been good - I've gone off and on it for about a year-and-a-half, with no noticeable side effects. It is mild, though, and works as an adjunct for me, not on its own.
Depakote is strong in my opinion. I'm not surprised you feel fuzzy. It should go away, but I understand you need to be clear-headed.
Wellbutrin made me Really agitated and angry. Do you think that might be the case with you, too?
I take Prozac now and it's better, though I stopped my stabilizer a few days ago, and I am getting agitated and a little spacey.Good luck.
- K.
Posted by Mitch on January 7, 2002, at 23:43:08
In reply to Re: Depakote for anxiety/anger/depreseeion, posted by Tedr on January 7, 2002, at 13:31:28
> I keep trying to find an answer to a med that I can tolerate besides a benzo(xanax,tranzene etc.) But everything else is just to hard to deal with. My Pdoc recently insisted I try Depakote in small doses 125mg twice a day. I wake up so fuzzy headed, I can't work. This doesn't happen with the benzos. I don't even think I can continue on for a few more days on the Depakote, to see if spaciness and dead headedness disappears. I would definitely try the Neurontin to get back to feeling calmer and less agitated and confused. I also take Wellbutrin SR for the depression side. I am just a bundle of nerves right now, but I need to work, and my job requires a good degree of mental sharpness. The pdoc, could he possibly be concerned about Neurontin, and it being hard to get off of too, like the benzos? I need some answers...TR
>Hi TedR,
You need to tell your doctor about the mental fuzziness that the Depakote is causing. I have some trouble taking Dep. because of the same thing you talk about. Neurontin doesn't effect me adversely in this way if I don't go above 900mg/day, and I still get a definite antidepressant effect from it without getting grouchy. Wellbutrin can *cause* grouchiness though. What about switching the Depakote to Neurontin and dropping your Wellbutrin dose and see what happens?
Mitch
Posted by Tedr on January 9, 2002, at 11:36:34
In reply to Re: Depakote for anxiety/anger/depreseeion » Tedr, posted by Mitch on January 7, 2002, at 23:43:08
> > I keep trying to find an answer to a med that I can tolerate besides a benzo(xanax,tranzene etc.) But everything else is just to hard to deal with. My Pdoc recently insisted I try Depakote in small doses 125mg twice a day. I wake up so fuzzy headed, I can't work. This doesn't happen with the benzos. I don't even think I can continue on for a few more days on the Depakote, to see if spaciness and dead headedness disappears. I would definitely try the Neurontin to get back to feeling calmer and less agitated and confused. I also take Wellbutrin SR for the depression side. I am just a bundle of nerves right now, but I need to work, and my job requires a good degree of mental sharpness. The pdoc, could he possibly be concerned about Neurontin, and it being hard to get off of too, like the benzos? I need some answers...TR
> >
>
> Hi TedR,
>
> You need to tell your doctor about the mental fuzziness that the Depakote is causing. I have some trouble taking Dep. because of the same thing you talk about. Neurontin doesn't effect me adversely in this way if I don't go above 900mg/day, and I still get a definite antidepressant effect from it without getting grouchy. Wellbutrin can *cause* grouchiness though. What about switching the Depakote to Neurontin and dropping your Wellbutrin dose and see what happens?
>
> Mitch
> Hi Mitch and Krazy Cat. Thanks for the advice and support. I see the doc next week, before I have to go back east for 3 weeks. I think you both have some very good feedback. The Wellbutrin even at the 150mgs a day maybe part of the problem. And all I know is that except for some sedation with gabapentin, even at the lower doses, it has helped with my mood. My mind is really dead set against the depakote...Thanks...Ted
Posted by Gracie2 on January 11, 2002, at 1:58:02
In reply to Re: Depakote for anxiety/anger/depreseeion, posted by Tedr on January 9, 2002, at 11:36:34
I think you've made the right decision, as Depakote is not conducive to mental sharpness.
After 6 months of taking 500 mg daily, I was a complete zombie. I had to quit my job because I could not function. I could hardly take care of myself, much less anyone else.I think Depakote has it's uses. I've struggled with depression all my life, but after two personal tragadies, one right after the other, (as Shakespeare said, troubles don't come one at a time but in "battalions"), depression brought me to a new and terrible low. For the first time,
I began to rely on "recreational" drugs and alcohol to get me through the day. I became so agitated, I rarely slept. I wound up in a mental ward, where I was able to "shake it off" after drying out for a week. I was sent home armed with a psychiatrist and a fistful of prescriptions for psychiatric drugs.At that point, I believe the level of Depakote was appropriate, as it did function as a mood stabalizer. I began to sleep and take better care of myself. However, looking back, I think that my doctor should have tapered me from Depakote much earlier, especially since she knew I had been suffering mainly from "reactive" depression (depression caused by events). As it turns out, my doctor did not "taper" me at all. I quit taking it on my own when I got disgusted with myself for being such a blob.
I suggest the tapering method. Quitting my psychiatric drugs practically cold turkey (I was also taking Seroquel and Paxil) had terrible side effects. My insomnia returned and, worse, it was obvious that my brain was malfunctioning. I couldn't remember familiar words and I forgot everything - I could not recall whole events that had taken place just a week before. I was like the computer HAL in the movie "2001- A Space Odyssey". In the scene where it's circuits are being shut down by the astronaut it tried to kill,
HAL begins asking in a reasonable voice, "Just what do you think you are doing, Dave?" While Dave continues to work furiously to dismantle the computer, HAL's voice starts to slow down and it's "thinking" begins to wander. Finally, it begins to sing "Daisy", the song it was taught when it was first programmed, until it's voice winds down and stops.I was just like HAL, with a little Dave in my head pulling circuits to shut me down. It was terrifying. Because I was no longer seeing a psychiatrist, I didn't know what was happening to me. I finally went to see my regular doctor, who prescribed Seroquel to help me sleep.
I still don't have an official diagnosis, but I think that the neurotransmitters in my head were
going haywire without the Depakote and other drugs to direct them. I read somewhere that after a longtime alcoholic stops drinking, his thinking doesn't become "normal" for some time because alcohol has the same effect.When my husband saw the Seroquel I had been prescribed he became agitated. He said something to the effect of "I thought you were done taking those drugs" and I said, "This is different. This isn't like the Depakote or those other drugs." He still looked disgusted, and I got angry. "Listen to me," I said. "It's an important distinction."
I stopped, shocked at what I had just said. For months, it had been beyond my ability to become angry or to utter a phrase like "important distinction", I had been so comatose. At that point, I realized my brain had finally started to readjust.
Like Jerry said, it has been quite a trip. (But I will survive.)
-Deadhead Gracie
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