Depakote and weight gain, inevitable?

I know I am all over these boards lately. I am in the throes of mania, am suffering tardive dyskinesia symptoms, and am desperately looking for a medication that does not exacerbate or cause tardive dyskinesia. I was on Abilify for almost 13 years and did develop tardive dyskinesia. The symptoms went away about 6 months ago, but now I think it's coming back.

Anyway, I have been in contact with my psychiatrist by email about this. She is really hard to get in to see, about a 2 month wait. Same with my neurologist. I'd really like to find another psychiatrist I can see sooner, but she's the only one in this area who is in my insurance network. She mentioned either lithium or Depakote as the 2 medications that were the least likely to cause tardive dyskinesia. I'm really scared of lithium and any permanent damage it might cause. So now we're talking about Depakote. She said they were both good at controlling mania. I have to do something. I am so irritable, uptight, anxious, and full of racing thoughts I can hardly stand it. I almost think I'd trade this for depression, which was awful. By the way, I'm also on Lamictal which does help with depression, but I still get it sometimes.

So, for those of you who are on Depakote, did you gain weight or stay the same? Is there anything you can do to prevent weight gain? I really watch what I eat. I've lost 80 pounds since last July and am darned if I'm going to gain it back.

Thank you for any insight you can give me.

I found this article that may be of interest:

Depakote and Weight Gain

It says up to 9 percent of people taking Depakote reported weight gain, so honestly I wouldn't be too worried.

In my opinion, you are pretty bound to gain weight on depakote - depakote, seroquel, and zyprexa are 3 of the biggest weight gainers of psychiatric Meds. It works very well, but if there is anything else possible you could try, I would try it. I have been on depakote for 20 years. I will say that there have been times in which I was able to weigh only 110 pounds, because I was taking Wellbutrin, too, or because I was exercising fanatically. So, it’s not impossible to be on depakote and be thin.

I have a mild case of tardive, and for some reason I have this feeling that the depakote helps, with it affecting the nervous system and being an anti-seizure medication. That is completely a weird hunch of my own and has no basis in medical facts or research.

trileptal is sometimes used as an alternative to depakote. less blood work. i take a low dose of lamictal w/ trileptal, so i don't think you'd have to do any dosage adjustments. if you're manic or getting there, a sleeping pill is also a very, very good idea. my vote goes for restoril (temazepam), but...each doctor and each person/patient is unique. just a suggestion.

I've taken both...no weight gain on either medication and no TD even though I also take Abilify. I find lithium better for mania and depression...Depakote was good for mania but no so much for my depressions.

There are other moodstabilizers that don't have weight gain as a side effect. I went off of depakote and onto trileptal and have been doing really good and lost a lot of weight. There's also tegretol I think or topomax, something like that.

Topomax is a fairly decent mood stabilizer that is pretty weight neutral and some people even lose weight on it.

Very common (10% or more): Weight decreased

I can relate to you.

I’ve lost 79 pounds in 2 years, and I’ve kept all of it off.

I refuse to be on anything new because I will gain weight.

I am at the point where I’d rather pay $84 a month for my prescriptions then to switch to something less expensive.

Depakote was the first medication I was on, and it caused about a 30 pound weight gain in a couple of months.

I am just sensitive in general.

I've put on weight being on 900mg of Sodium Valproate... Hoping it stops soon