[Mike777]

My sister is currently taking 1 depakote (250mg) in the morning and 3 depakote at night along with 1 risperdal(sp?) .25mg on a regular basis, but her doctor also left her the option of taking zyprexia & klonopin as needed. Is Klonopin a sleeping pill? is zyprexia a med to prevent abnormal thoughts or to prevents seeing things and hearing things that aren't there?
What are the purposes of these meds. Are these amounts of medications alot or are they normal for someone who is bipolar? My sister is worried these meds will cause damage to her organs, like liver, etc., Thank you very much and any comments are greatly appreciated. Mike

[j_belle]

Hi, Mike
Too give you a quick answer... Depakote is a mood stablizer, Klonopin is for anxiety, Risperdal and Zyprexa are both anti-pyschotic meds but also have qualities in them that can be used for mood and panic disorders. All can be used to treat bipolar disorder. I, too, am bipolar and am on four different meds at the moment. Two of them are Risperdal and Klonopin. In my own opinion, I think that the best thing to do would be to consult her doctor for all the questions you have. You can also do some research over the Internet. Good luck to you and welcome to the forum!

<font color=green> One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. - Sigmund Freud </font color=green>

[joepuccini]

you can also check out drug references at the library

[j_belle]

A very informative site you can visit is the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://web.nami.org/index.html>http://web.nami.org/index.html</A>. Maybe it will help...

<font color=green> One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. - Sigmund Freud </font color=green>

[morning8glory]

Klonopin is used for different reasons.
I have been put on 1 mg of Klonopin only at night after a neurologist prescribed it after he read a sleep study that was done on me that found two things one was that I had periodic leg movements that kept me waking up most of the night.
I love that medication I now sleep all night.Morning8Glory