[BipolarGirl86]

Has anyone else ever taken Depakote and noticed hair loss? I was started on it in January and about a month or two later I noticed that every time I brush my hair a lot of hair comes out with it. Every time I brush my hair I need to clean the hair out of my brush 3 or 4 times. I know it's normal to lose some hair but it's just becoming a ridiculous amount. My hair seems to be thinning horribly and I cannot think of anything else that may be causing it. I haven't switched to any new products either so the only other thing I could think of is that maybe the Depakote is causing it.

If anyone else has noticed this happening to them on this med or even any other psych med is there anything that can be done about it with out discontinuing the medication?

I am paranoid that if I cannot find a way to stop the hair loss that I will seriously be nearly bald within a year. And being a female the thought of losing my hair is horrifying.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I had a lot of hair loss on it and then my thryoid gave up the ghost thanks to lithium toxicity so I learned a good bit about it.

Centrum silver will help. Selenium and biotin supplements also helped me. I have no idea who told me about those 2; the centrum silver recommendation was from my old psychiatrist.

There are shampoos that can help. I used Nioxin and really liked it but was told by my stylist that it no longer has the ingredient (DHT I think) that helps with hair re-growth. However you can find some other shampoos for hair loss that do have DHT and I seem to have read positive reviews of the new Nioxin. I use Nioxin scalp care fo psoriasis on my scalp and it's wonderful stuff. But like I said I don't know what the new hair loss shampoo is like. You can probably get recommendations at a good salon. When I started I had patches of thinned hair along the front of my hair. Growing it out was a pain b/c my hair is curly and so I'd have these curly pieces randomly sticking up. But lots of bobby pins controlled it and now I have long hair without any thinning although my hair isn't as thick as it once was (I also am menopausal which is probably the real reason for that). But the vitamins alone helped until the thyroid issue.

[Chuva]

Hi BipolarGirl, I've been on Depakote a long time but only for some months did I lose hair. So I guess it was the severe depression I was experiencing and not the Depakote after all. Anyway, it's not the first time I hear about hair loss with this med.
As BeyondtheRainbow said, there are good products against hair loss. I went to a very good hair stylist to get advice and she gave me a Kérastase product that you had to apply on hair before drying it. I don't know if you can find that in the US, though, but you can try. I had previously tried some supplements found at my apothecary and a product by René Furterer, but those didn't work as well as the Kérastase. I can look it up for you if you're interested, but it will have a French name as I was living in Luxembourg at the time.

[BipolarGirl86]

Thank you so much. I am going to look into purchasing the Centrum silver, biotin and selenium that you mentioned today. I need to start doing something about it as soon as possible because I cannot afford to lose much more hair. Are you still taking Depakote? It does seem to be helping my mood however the potentially going bald out weighs the helping with my mood.

[BipolarGirl86]

Chuva, I have been leaning more towards the depressive side lately so I wonder if the stress and depression could be causing my hair loss instead or if it's a mixture of the Depakote and the depression. And yeah, if you can look that up for me that would be great. Thank you!

[Chuva]

It's called "Kérastase Specifique cure intensive anti-chute pro-ciblée à l'Aminexil GL M".
Oh, and I managed to find it in a US website! It's this one: Cure Anti-Chute Pro-Ciblée, hair loss treatment - Spécifique Kérastase
I see that there are various similar treatments - the one I linked above it's the one I tried and I can assure you it works wonders, but you can also check this site out: Spécifique: Solutions for Imbalance Scalp by Kérastase
As you can see they are very expensive products but at the time I thought it was worth the money (and I still do!). I hope you will be able to find something suitable in your area!

[Toodles333]

I've been on it for a couple of weeks now. Someone recommended the centrum silver to me too. I haven't noticed any hair loss yet, but the increase in appetite is ridiculous. I'm eating stupid amounts, none of it very healthy. I needed to put about 6 kg on but I fear there will be more. I guess I'm going to be a fatty soon. I'm on 750mg, set to increase

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I'm off it. I was on it for 7 years. It was always frustrating for me because it worked well but was really tricky. My body refused to reach therapeutic levels until I was tried on the newly released ER form. Then it turned out that my levels would still start to drop after a while and we'd have to bump up the dose. Then we realized that my level needed to be higher than average, more like 125 so we were then chasing that higher dose. By the end I was on 3200 mg and combining it with Seroquel and routine Ativan and when I finally was able to start coming off of it I was pretty happy. But it did work for me, it just had an attitude with me that got annoying.

[BipolarGirl86]

Chuva,

Thank you so much for looking them up for me. I am willing to try almost anything.. I think the cost would be worth it if it can help with my hair issues.

[BipolarGirl86]

Toodles333, since I have been on depakote I haven't really had many issues with an increased appetite except for the first month that i was on it. However, my boyfriend takes it too and he does get the increased appetite, especially at night. As of right now I am only on 500mg at night until I go for my blood work to see what my levels are at and then I guess my doctor will go from there. I finally decided to google depakote and hair loss and from what I read it is a common side effect and even if you stop taking the depakote it could take between 6 months to a year for your hair to start repairing itself.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

It took about 6 months on the special shampoo plus vitamins for mine to start growing back in. It reached just long enough to not be annoying (and I was off Depakote) and I had gyn surgery and my hormones got all messed up and I lost hair again. I started getting THAT back and had a hysterectomy and my hair fell out again. Almost 3 years later it seems to be all better.

For me my hair seems to be really picky about what is going on in my body.