hey guys!

I was suffering from depression from february to late may, and I started to take paxil and xanax for it. (I regularly went to therapy too). The medication started to work, and it was fine for a few weeks, but then I started to develop hypomania, and eventually had an episode of mania, and I had to go to the hospital for treatment. They put me on Depakene (valproic acid), olanzapine and xanax. These meds helped me get out of the mania, and now it's been 2 months since I got out of the hospital.

Since then we gradually decreased all the dosages of meds, but now I'm slipping into horrible exhaustion, which leads to depression again. My psychiatrist said that it's normal to have depression after an episode of mania.

I weaned off olanzapine, and eventually quit 1 and a half week ago. Since then it's been horrible. Mainly exhaustion, which leads to anxiety and depression. I still take xanax 0,25 three times daily, which helps me with anxiety, but doesn't help me with fatigue at all.

I really don't want to slip into depression again, and this is where my other med, the depakene (valproic acid) comes into play. My psychiatrist insists that it's a "mood stabilizer", but I've read the patient leaflet and it says that it's used to treat the episode of mania.

Now I obviously don't have mania, and it was only triggered by the anti-depressant. I feel like I don't want to take anti-depressants again, and I'm convinced, that the only way out of this is to stop taking valproic acid. I really want to give it a go. She insists me to still take it, because she says if I stop it it might get me into a deeper depression.

I really don't understand why she is saying that this medication is needed for me. I don't have any symptoms of mania, I just have really really bad exhaustion and depression.

Can you guys help me? I desperately want to get out of this, and I feel like quitting this medication could help me.

thank you.