My most significant side effect - because it is visible - is tremor. I get tremor because of Depakote. I take Depakote for two reasons: 1) as a mood stabilizer in conjunction with Lithium and 2) as a migraine prevention measure - I get frequent migraine attacks.

I was taking 1000mg and the tremors were truly pathetic. I scaled down to 500mg and they became better but did not disappear. I cannot go lower for the two reasons above.

What do you do when you see someone's gaze following your trembling hands? I had lunch with a former colleagues after many years of not seeing each other and my fork shook in my hand (that was on the 1000mg dose); I said nothing but wondered what he thought of it.

Hand tremor is associated with alcohol and drug dependency and I am afraid that people would think that I am an advanced stage alcoholic.

So I am entertaining the idea of telling people, truthfully, that I get this unfortunate side effect from a drug that helps keep my migraines at bay. Without this drug, I would get frequent and debilitating headaches.

IS IT LAME?