Depakote...do I want to be on a mood stabilizer?

Ok, so I told my pdoc about my my terrible Latuda experience and he took me off it and stuck me on Depakote because, "it will slow you down fast".

Ok, so I'm sure everybody who is manic would say that they aren't having a problem...I realize that...but why can't my pdoc (or others) just treat the depression alone? To me, I don't feel like my versions of mania/hypomania are a big deal. Getting depressed is a MUCH bigger problem for me. I won't lie and say I haven't had minor problems with mania but I also don't have any major problems that are, in my opinion, valid cause for a mood stabilizer like Depakote. I may be wrong, but I thought Depakote was one of those "big guns" type of medications used to control people fast...

Am I the only one worried about being on a mood stabilizer and it's deadening effects. I've heard people say that it screws with your creativity and can make some people feel numb. I may be overreacting a bit...but I'm really worried about losing creativity and feeling numb because both feelings and creativity play a big role in my life. If I lose those I lose everything.

Other than this, perhaps somebody can give me some encouraging advice that will help me not to worry so much.

I'm on two of the "big guns" (Geodon and Zyprexa) in addition to my other psych meds, and I can say in all truthfulness that I am not numb, nor has my creativity gone away. What I am is calmer, more rational, and less anxious. I don't know if that helps you any, but I really think you should give the Depakote a fair trial.

I have experience with this. Depakote will slow your mind down to a snail's pace and end mania fast but if you stop taking it your mind will go back to fast thinking and creativity in a few months after stopping it. If there are permanent effects why does one still have to keep taking Depakote pills? Depakote is a salt, sodium valproate derived from fatty acids somehow and yeah, you need blood tests once a month on it. Don't test and risk brain damage and liver failure. It is a "big gun" drug. Your Depakote lab levels should be somewhere between 50 and 100 to be safe. Mine was 89. PCOS is a risk run for young women under age 20 taking Depakote. That is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome as Depakote raises androgen and testosterone levels which can cause you not to ovulate. Not ovulating can affect fertility. Get an ultra sound if you're a woman on Depakote, I plan to do so. Creativity should resume weeks to months after stopping Depakote. There are other options for mood stabilization. Ask questions.

Have you asked other people about your hypomania? You may not think it's impacting you but sometimes the people around you have a different experience.

I'll tell you why they can't treat with just antidepressants - they can make you much, much worse. I took just an AD over the summer (my own idea, not pdoc endorsed) and I had the worst mania in my life. Slipped into psychosis and ended up hospitalized for 9 days after hurting myself pretty badly because I thought someone was puttin thoughts in my head and telling me to.

So yeah, I don't know about you but I'll never chance it again.

As for depakote yeah it's one of the main drugs but just try it and if it doesnt work or it dulls you then ask for something different. I felt very apathetic on depakote but I took it when I was a fifteen year old in a group home so who knows how my situation was affecting me.

Most likely the dulling effects will not be permanent. However from an antipsychotic they could be so I'm unsure why you had no problem taking latuda but are balking at depakote.

But like I said there are a few different stabilizers so don't worry if depakote has too many side effects.

I agree with wild flower...ad by themselves can actually cause hypo mania and mania. I tried depakote and had a bad reaction.my body didn't like it as I got fuzzy headed and very dizzy so we went lamictal. I've had no side effects what so ever! I'd try that one. I'm also on geodon which is an ap. It is like a miracle drug for me. I do take a small amof an ad which is lexapro just 10mg. Even tho I still suffer from depression my pdoc won't increase it cause it will cause mania. So ask yr doc about lamictal or another one. Good luck! Hang in there.

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The Pdoc I saw who added the latuda to the lamictal said it was just temporary until things called down then I can just use the lamictal for maintenance. I was really worried about using it after my previous experiences but he put me on a very low dose and so far the only side effect is that the music and ocean roar inside my head stopped. I slept the first night but not after that.

For me this mixed episode has been ongoing for a while and I have not been able to create anything, no writing, no clay work, no painting. I'm hoping these meds will bring that back, I feel so dull, and dim with the lack of sleep. I do understand your concern, but ask if the AP can be temporary. I had a good friend who choice his music over the medicine, he was a composer. We lost his voice forever, it's a hard balance.

I'm on depakote and it brought my mania to a screeching halt. I still went into a depression afterwards, that always happens to me, we had to add an antidepressant to it. Initially I was very tired on it but it did not last too long. I've been on it since November and stable since mid January. Lamictal is not known to be as good for mania and I am leery of lithium only because I don't drink much fluids through the day.

Hypomania may be OK. But any kind of mania by definition is destructive. So do not kid yourself.

A large amount of people with BPD don't feel the manic states are a problem, just the depressive states. I'm not manic depressive, but my understanding is people feel pretty good while in the manic state, but it is hard on their bodies and hard on those around them.

I once had a coworker who was diagnosed as depressed although he actually had bipolar disorder. He was put on antipressants and it put him in a permanent manic state. He made a lot of mistakes during that time and even though he felt good, it was hard on him. Even when his pdoc rediagnosed him and put him on mood stabilizers he was never the same.

Discuss your concerns with your doctor. Mania can be very dangerous. See what the doc has to say.

I took Depakote for a couple of years when I was first diagnosed. Mania was and still is a big problem for me as I get into all kinds of trouble when Im manic. The Depakote worked well but I gained 80 pounds the first year I was on it. I didn't notice any loss of emotions or creativity, in fact it made it easier for me to concentrate and get things done. Getting the labs done every month was a pain in the butt plus the weight gain was awful so I talked to my pdoc and he switched me to Geodon which has been a miracle drug for me.
I did recently find out something interesting about Depakote that I never knew. My daughter was on Depakote and she was taking birth control pills. She got pregnant and swears she took her birth control religiously. Her OB doctor informed us that Depakote interacts with birth control pills and increases your chance of getting pregnant. I was shocked so we asked her pdoc about it and he said yes that's true !

fyi: I started losing my hair on Depakote (handful when washing my hair in the shower)...once I stopped taking it, my hair stopped falling out

My psychiatrist told me that naturally, hair grows in at different times, so when some falls out, other is already growing in. She said that things like Depakote (and also testosterone, which I take) makes more hair grow in and fall out at the same time, so you go through periods of ok hair, and periods of thinning hair. It seems to be true for me (not with depakote but with testosterone), sometimes my hair is thinner and sometimes it's ok.

Give Depakote a shot. A small dose might help without having serious adverse effects. A mood stabilizer can help with mania/hypomania AND depression. My psychiatrist thinks that when I'm on an equilibrium dose of my mood stabilizer, I can be weaned off my antidepressant completely.

Manias are what ends me up in the hospital, not depression. Mania can make it so you go days without sleep which is very bad for your health and will make you look sick.

Agreed. Manias and hypomanias can feel good, but at least for me, they ultimately result in a deep crash/depression. And hospitalizations. Depression and mania/hypomania are both serious, in their own ways.

There is also dysphoric mania where the person does not feel good at all. FWIW

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Because treating your depression alone could cause a much more severe and very destructive mania to develop.

Depakote is one of the best drugs for stopping mania quickly. I personally don't like it as a long term treatment because it carries more physical risks than a lot of other treatments and requires more blood work. For an actual mood stabilizer class drug, Lamictal is a lot safer. There are also a lot of atypical anti-psychotics which can stabilize moods and don't require special blood work or have as many side-effects.

I was treated with just anti-depressants for nearly a year before we realized I had bi-polar and not just depression. They were not working and I kept getting worse and worse. As soon as we added a mood stabilizer, I started "getting better". My hypo-mania is pretty "minimal" as well and we keep discussing whether the Depakote is actually doing anything, but knowing that when I wasn't on it I was doing so much worse, I'd have to say it must be!

Also - I was told Lithium and Depakote are kind of the similar ones (by my psych NP) so I tried Lithium first and then switched to Depakote. Lithium was the one I had to have my blood tested on but she never mentioned that with Depakote. Interesting. I'll have to ask about that.

As for flattening me out or losing creativity, that didn't happen to me at all and I'm taking 1,000mg of Depakote daily.