depakote and chest pain

having a little bit of chest discomfort... comes and goes like every few minutes... kinda like pain, but due to my habbitual SI, my pain tolerance is pretty high... so im not really sure if this qualifies as pain. but this is my second pill and second chest pain thingy.
anyone else noticed this when theyre starting depakote?

i dont think this med is working.... not totally anyway.
i started barfing up my food again today.... i know that sounds gross.... and i feel really flushed. not sure if thats the purging doing it or if its the depakote.

i also spent too much money today and went on a cleaning spree. i was irritable and hostile... all manic symptoms.
the one thing that was different about it though, was ... i was so happy today! i havent been this happy in so long! the sky looked beautiful! the air smelled good....

i just dont know what to think of all this.

Give your Dr a call just for safety sake
did you eat anything before taking meds
Angie

It's a relatively common side effect of depakote, to have some bronchial side effects, probably something like a mild asthma. It's not on the list of side effects that require immediate medical care. Only you can judge how prominent this symptom is, but it's not considered serious (most of the time). It would probably be a good idea to notify your doctor that you're having this side effect, though.

This may seem to come from left field, but there's a good chance that a commonly available vitamin, niacinamide (that's the AMIDE form of vitamin B3) might eliminate this symptom. It tends to reduce smooth muscle contraction, which could underly this feeling of chest pain that you're having. Can't hurt, might help. You can take up to 500 mg, four times a day. Make sure you get niacinamide, not niacin. They are not the same thing.

Also, magnesium supplementation may reduce this symptom. Both magnesium and niacinamide can make you sleepy (an occasional outcome), so be aware of that.

Lar

thanks lar- good infor, im gonna check that out. i already take some supplements... multivitamin, and omega 3... but ill have to try adding those.

angie- i took the depakote with food, i just starting purging on purpose since taking this med. i guess i gotta get worse before i get better

i feel fat! i wonder if its the depakote making me bloated... i havent ate much at all. and im super tired. its hard to stay awake.

You should contact your pdoc about this.
Also if you just started the Depakote, it won't work 1,2,3, takes a little while during titration period that you and your doc need to work together with this.
I urge you to give him or her a call, you may need a dosage change or a different med., which is very common with obtaining the right med for you and having good outcome.
Don't give up working with your pdoc with this, I know sometimes we can feel so disgusted we just want to pull out of trying, and doing that just makes the whole process more difficult and increases risks.

Please take care,
DE

If you're throwing up the food you eat with the pill, then the pill does not have time to make it into your bloodstream. I worry you're not feeling any effects of the pill if you're throwing it back up again.

Hi CCL, you're hearing all good stuff here, all true. I remember a peculiar taste/smell that seemed trapped somewhere in my mouth or nasal area that I associated with Depakote. It reminded me of one of those sickly sweet candy confections that only children would probably eat. Do you have that? I'm thinkin' how such an abiding taste/smell could trigger eating disorder behaviors.

Just to add my voice to the chorus above, the depakote doesn't begin to work for about two weeks, and throwing it up certainly isn't going to hasten that.

It's hard right now, but yer gonna be ok.

i have taken 1000 mg for two weeks and it seems to stalblize my moodiness. im still hyped and depressed but not as i was before the depakote,plus I take zoloft 200 mg a day plus Remeron 30 mg

(i was also on zoloft and subsequently was diagnosed with bipolar II..... i even wonder if it is true bipolar disorder at all, or simply the zoloft.) check out this website for a quick overview on articles about the relation between ssri's and bipolar disorder :

http://www.neurotransmitter.net/admania.html

im just telling you because of my own bad experience with zoloft...i seriously hate that med! i just hope you have a better experience with it than i did.

at the moment i am not on any meds...

I've been having chest pains too -- upper left side -- didn't know it was the depakote. what really bugs me is i recently started on aripiprazole and now i seem to have gotten the flu -- except flu syndrome was a frequent side effect for it in premarketing trials -- so how would i know if it's flu or the drug?????

i've been hallucinating like crazy. there are spirits in the room under the stairs. i went down there and i could hear the thrum of the vortex.