DEPAKOTE Reviews (DIVALPROEX SODIUM)Average Rating: 3.0 (584 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare DEPAKOTE with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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More on DEPAKOTE: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR DEPAKOTE | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 4 | Migraines | Rapid Weight Gain (30lbs in 2 months), Always Hungry , Hand tremors tend to go unnoticed. Legs fall asleep easily. It's even harder to get out of bed in the morning but no fatigue otherwise. | 1500mg/day - This Medicine worked wonderfully. One week into starting this medicine my migraines were gone (coming from 5-6 migraines a week this was a huge step). I've felt them coming before, but they never arrive. Unfortunately, I've traded that pain for 30 pounds of unhappiness... Strict diets and exercise only slows the weight gain and fighting the hunger urges make me miserable. | M | 22 | 2.5 months | 5/5/2007 | 5 | Major Depression (Poss. Bipolar II | Appetite/weight gain and significant hand tremor (the latter may also be related to the Imipramine I take with it). Note that my dosage is a relatively high 1500 mg./day. | Addition of Depakote to my antidepressant has given me the most consistent relief from severe depressive episodes I've had in years. | M | 50 | 2 years | 5/4/2007 | 3 | mixed state bipolar/add | Rapid and significant weight gain, carb cravings, mood flatness, some loss of libido, change in hair texture as well as hair loss. I can't tell if it has made my hair curlier, but it is definately finer and more prone to breakage. Depakote ER is at 1500 mg and Seroquell at 400 mg. Xanax 2-3 time per day. Adderall at 40 mg. Temazepam at 15 mg. | I have tried, from what I can remember, at least abilify, geodon, lamictal, topamax, seroquel, xanax, lexapro, adderall, temazepam, effexor, and zoloft. After my most recent episode, depakote and seroquell seemed to quiet the agitation and have leveled mood in general, xanax attended to the anxiety and temazepam lets me sleep. Often, when I don't have anything in particular to attend to, I feel flat. I paradoxically still have the occasional big jump or dump in mood, too. I am trying the South Beach to lose 50 lbs. I may try rogaine for my hair. I am going to ask my Dr. if I can reduce my dose of depakote. | F | 28 | 3 months | 5/4/2007 | 3 | Bipolar 1 | Wieght gain, 45lbs (uncontrollable). I excersise 6-7 times a week, 2-3 hours a day. Liver is still okay. No hair loss. Extreme fatigue. Did I mention fatigue?? Nap anyone? Also the hidden side effect: The way society treats the depressed. I thank everyone who gets the help they need! I have tried 10 different medications since I was 15 (and still no one knows what TRULY causes depression)? Ironic? | For those it works for, thank GOD! I will say this; it has helped my mood swings! Otherwise, I have taken Depakote ER 500MG since my cry for help when I was 21. This was not my choice, but by the Psychy who presented it to me (it can be intimidating going in there sometimes). By her recommendation, I quit my habits of drinking and marijuana for this medication. 5 years later I can honestly say I am happy I don't drink anymore, but I still feel like I forgot what it was like to TRULY feel normal (without medication)! I do love how it works for seizures, please don't get me wrong, but for depression? I believe there has to be more to it. Be strong everyone, you know how hard it is to be positive sometimes (especially in our society). PS-Marijuana should be prescribed for the depressed, for medicinal purposes (and I don't even smoke it)! | M | 26 | 5 years | 5/2/2007 | 5 | bipopar disorder and migraines | weight gain is the biggest one I notice | has cured me of migraines, I use to be on Lithium and had migraines for almost 10 years. However, weight gain has been hard to shed, hard to distinguish exact cause | F | 31 | 4 months | 5/1/2007 | 3 | Mood Disorder/Depression | Was great for a year or so on 500 ER and Effexor, and Remeron, went into terrible depression and anxiety,prescribed Lamictal with it, felt great, hair started falling out IN CLUMPS, just went off it a few weeks ago and onto Tegretol XR 200 increasing to 400, so far feel good. | VERY VERY UPET THAT I WAS LOSING SO MUCH HAIR BECAUSE IT MADE MY HAIR SO CURLY AND BEAUTIFUL FOR THE 1ST TIME IN MY LIFE. Didn't notice a wight gain different from any other med and have been on most for depression, mood disorder, and anxiety and panic disorder. | F | 43 | 1 years | 5/1/2007 | 1 | bipolar 1 disorder/mood instability | weight gain, constant tiredness, hair loss | I just want to warn young women that this drug has been known to cause Polycystic Ovary Syndrome; my best friend and I are two of those cases. Because of depakote,I will now have problems conceiving and have to make very unpleasant trips to the obgyn every month. I have been off the drug for 3 years and have just recently found this out. I saw no positive effects for the year I was on it, except for when I took it with effexor. | F | 19 | 1 years | 5/1/2007 | 5 | Mood/Slight EEG abormalities | I have not gained weight or lost any hair but I only take 750mg of the extended release. What I notice ometimes is that my mind is very calm but I feeling like moving around. Also, occasional slurred speech. | No cognitive impairment is big for me. I have taken Dilantin, Tegretol and Lamictal. Lamictal sucked, Tegretol gave me acne I never had before so that was bad. Dilantin was OK but Depakote ER is much better to me. I never took the regular version but I hear the side effects are worse with those. | M | 35 | 7 years | 4/30/2007 | 4 | dysphoric manic and anxiety | Mild nausea at 500mg/day which went away after about a week. Titrating to 750mg brought back the nausea (still mild), some morning lower back pain & intermitttant dark feelings so I went back to 500 mg/day. No weight gain, no hair loss. | I'm also taking 1.5 mg/day Xanax, down from 2.5mg/day before starting Depakote 7 weeks ago. So far I wouldn't call it a miracle drug but I do feel more in control, more confident, less anxious and generally better than I did before I started taking it. I'm still hoping for the "curly hair" side effect though LOL! | F | 56 | 7 weeks | 4/29/2007 | 5 | Myoclonic Jerks/Chorea | It always seemed like I was excited before taking this and worried about a sudden movement or non stop twitching. It really slows the abnormal electrical activity as evidenced by EEG's. Seem more focused, sometimes get angry. Hair is thick. Sometimes a tremor, lasts 10 or less minutes off and on. | I hve taken Dilantin, Tegretol, Lamictal, Topomax, Neurontin. All of them either created a rash, lower IQ, nervousness or erratic moods. Depakote has never done this, I guess what I mean is my cognitive ability seems as good or better than with nothing and I think it's awesome | M | 24 | 3 years | 4/28/2007 | 5 | Anxiety | Not much because it helped so much. Once in while maybe a slight tremor. Same weight as before. | Maybe I am just a lucky one who does not get anxiety as a side effect. This makes me confident and controlled beyond belief. I take it with Remeron to help me sleep. Greatest drug I have ever taken. Dosage 250mg 3x a day Extended Release. | M | 7 years | 4/28/2007 | 4 | Seizure Disorder | Tremors in hand. | Led to 6 months of no seizure activity, then seizures resumed but at a lower rate. | M | 38 | 7 months | 4/27/2007 | 4 | Bipolar 1 | Weight gain of about 3 lbs. per month leveling out at 20 lb. overall gain; lethargy; flat feeling(no joy, just on auto pilot); irritablity, increased anxiety, reduced cognative abiltiy (ha!). | Despite the side effects, Depakote has helped me quite a bit. I have had allergic reactions (rash) to Lamacit and Tegratol. Topamax gave me vision problems. My body will at least tollerate Depakote. | F | 41 | 4 years | 4/25/2007 | 5 | Bipolar | Slight weight gain managed by diet and excercise. Constant lower back pain. Some hair loss. | I have never been this alive in my entire life. The side effects suck but i'm willing to worth around them/with them because this drug works for me and i've tried many others over the past 10 years. This medication isn't just one that "makes" you not sad by numbing you to the world, it helps to get you to a place where you can make yourself happy. There is a difference! | F | 21 | 2 months | 4/23/2007 | 4 | bipolar manic depression | Glad to finally know why my hair is so curly! Fatigue, indigestion, vivid dreams & weight gain. | My dose has been between 1500 and 2000 mg; seems a lot for a 125 lb female but the increase along with the 120 mg of Cymbalta for depression has given me a sense of "normalcy" again. | F | 38 | 18 months | 4/22/2007 | 2 | Bipolar | This drug does its job INCREDIBLY BUT HAS SIDE EFFECTS: WEIGHT GAIN:( Tremors. | When I was diagnosed in 2000 and was put on this medication, I weighed a healthy 145 lbs. By July 2001, I weighed 220 lbs. Ive been working out for over 10 years but the side effects are a hinderence despite the success of the drug. I tried Topamax with a doctors word in September 2003 and by December 2005 I was 165 lbs and still stable in mind and healthy. However, when you take these meds - you must get ample sleep. Because of my previous job - I wasnt getting a lot of sleep and started taking Hydroxycut because I started gaining wt because of my wacked out schedule/different hrs in the day eating my meals. I should have read the label twice because this caused myself a one week breakdown. Taking hydroxycut with antidepressants is fatal. I ended up having to increase all of my meds dosages. And the side effect was wt gain. I went from 170lbs in Jan 2006 to 197 lbs now in April. I am healthy mentally. But inside Im unhappy of what I see because Im athletic and a workout enthusiast and | M | 28 | 7 days | 4/22/2007 | 3 | Bipolar | Daily Migranes, Insomnia.. I'm taking lunesta &/or unisom & I still can't sleep some nights, I sleep 10+ hrs & am still fatigued, Verrry unusual dreams, My eye has been twitching the past 3days, Suddenly I got dandruff? My fingers & toes go numb sometimes, I had severe lower back pain 1 day so far, I noticed I can be forgetful at work, Deffinetly increased appetite which will lead to weight gain if it hasn't already. | My doc. prescribed me to zoloft & geodon, I had SEVERE side effects from the geodon to the point I stopped taking it on my own & just the zoloft but apparently the zoloft was making me extremely manic where I didn't sleep for 2-3 days at a time. She then switched me onto the depakote 250mg 2x a day since then I'd say my moods are pretty stable I have to go back & see her soon, she wants weekly-monthly blood tests done now? I'm not looking forward to that.. With reading everyones hair loss & EXTREME weight gain comments.. I'm not so sure if I want to stay on this anymore though :( I was also informed if I stopped taking this medication on my own like the geodon it was likely I could have seizures since this is a seizure medication also.. epp! | F | 22 | 3 weeks | 4/21/2007 | 3 | biplolar | Weight gain (just watch what you eat more-or workout if possible, this will actually aid in you becoming muscular, b/c you intake a lot of calories), hair has more curl to it. | Feel tired in the morning due to taking a dose @ night and also morning. Get blood work done to ensure you are @ the proper level and this should be a little bit better. Overall Depakote is good though, I had 2 manic episodes; got on meds after the first one, then I was taken off after improvement. 2nd episode was far worse: hallucinations, spending sprees, get rich quick ideas, very little sleep, unbelievable sex drive,et cetera. Since then moved up to Asst. Mgr. @ a 5-star well-known restuarant, working a campus job also dealing with my major, and now graduating from LSU in May. Anything is possible I feel better about the person that I am now. I would have most likely been dead if it was not for GOD and also family intervention. I am on Seroquel also, and I love being able to get a full night's rest on it- (knocks you out,drowsiness). | M | 25 | 10 months | 4/19/2007 | 5 | Bipolar I | Weight gain (40 pounds); very sleepy in the morning. I take one in the morning and one in the evening (500 mg). | This drug really helped me to stabilize. I lost my depression, and am feeling great! I don't like the side effects, and am trying to take an appetite suppresant to lose the weight. I'm going to go down to only 500 mg a day and I hope to continue the same feelings--creativity and no depression. | F | 41 | 6 months | 4/18/2007 | 5 | Bipolar Disorder/Manic | Weight gain, memory loss, slight swelling of feet and hands and decreased libido. | I was first put on this medicine after a severe breakdown. The difference is night and day. I am lost without this medication! I am now completely stable, manic phase has completely vanished and for the first time in my life I feel like a normal person. Thoughts are clear, emotions are controlled. I take this along with Klonopin for anxiety and Trazadone for sleep disorder. Depakote works with both medications and I feel it's a miracle drug. The side effects are well worth it. | F | 26 | 4 years | 4/17/2007 |