Echo Posted July 16, 2005 Share Posted July 16, 2005 Holy Bageezus! I started my Depakote (Epival in Canada) and Seroquel last night. I slept probably 10 and a half hours before I awoke. Once I awoke I went straight to the couch for about, oh lets say, an hour and a half, and basically just rested half asleep the whole time. Then I went back to bed and slept for another 4 hours. Here I am again. I FEEL LIKE A WORTHLESS BLOB! I don't hardly have the energy to keep my head raised in order to view the screen on which I type my post. I also have been so clumsy that during the couple hours I was awake I hit my head hard on the freezer door. Don't ask how, it's an almost impossible task to complete and to get to the fridge my head is nowhere near it but somehow I managed. I amd supposed to and would like to clean today. Nix. I want to and am supposed to do laundry today. Nix again. I wanted to go out and go grocery shopping. Nix Nix Nix! Everything I think of doing makes me tired and I just lay back down. I realize this is only my first day on the meds but What. The. Fuck. This better go away. I don't know if I can function at work like this come Monday! Not to mention that I drive an hour and a half to and from work each day. How can I do this? I have never felt so useless in my life. My brain wants me to do but my body says NOOO WAY BUDDY! .... Advice? Pitty? Anything? (PS. My explanations as to how I feel "a worthless blob" barely scratch the surface of how actually terrible I feel. I'm so lazy I can't even think of the best words to describe. So I don't. But it's bad. More exhausted than I have ever been in my entire life.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sulu Posted July 16, 2005 Share Posted July 16, 2005 Echo, both seroquel and epival made me sleepy when I first started them. What dosage of each are you taking? I take 25mg of seroquel for sleep each night and usually get around 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep, which I really like. I take 500mg of epival at bedtime as well and sometimes think that is what makes me feel kinda lethargic the next day, and I am now taking 300mg of wellbutrin sr, which helps with that but doesn't seem to be doing squat for the depression. So I am now giving you pity cause I have no advice. I want one drug to cover all seasons and i want it now!!!!!!! But something tells me I'll never get it. Sorry I cannot be more helpful, Sulu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted July 17, 2005 Author Share Posted July 17, 2005 I'm on Epival (Depakote) 250mg at bedtime and Seroquel 50mg at bed time. Doc wanted me to start Seroquel 100mg at first but I said no way. I am generally hyper-sensitive to meds and always seem to get the shit end of the stick when it comes to side effects so I like to start low. I just feel so awful. And I believe one of the two might be making me depressed. I have felt so "not me" and absolutely horrible these two days that I have been on the meds. I feel so weak it's hard to even lift my arms. I can't get motivated to do anything and even if I do my body is too tired to do it. Just replying is helpful Sulu. So thanks. I want a miracle drug too! We all do. But I doubt it's going to happen. I'm wondering if there might be some OTC drug I can take to give me back my energy in the morning. If not, I don't know if I can continue to take these drugs this week. I have to go to work tomorrow and I doubt if I'll even be able to drag myself out of bed feeling like this, let alone work a whole day! Depressed and exhausted, Echo ps. edited for spelling errors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pressmama Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 Hey Echo, Wondering how these meds shook out for you...I'm on both as well and have become THE BLOB. Writing this from my couch with my PJs on at 2 in the afternoon This sucks because I start back to school in less than 2 weeks and would really like NOT to be a blob by then. (I already lost 2 years of school after a car accident and don't really care to withdraw and spend another two years treating SOMETHING ELSE!! Come on....give a girl a break!!) I've titrated up to 150 mg seroquel at bedtime and also take 250 mg of depakote at lunch and 500 mg at dinner. They're really helping, but there are things like unpacking, laundry, replacing the chair that broke, that I'd really like to do. Did you find anything that worked? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted August 5, 2005 Author Share Posted August 5, 2005 Hey pressmama - Unfortunately for both of us I was taken off that combo about a week and a half ago. Doc decided (don't ask me how) that even though I had only been on 250mg for 2 weeks (of the Depakote) that it wasn't working and switched me to Effexor XR and upped the seroquel to 100mg. So now I've been on Effexor for one week. Blah. How long have you been on the combo for now? I found that after the initial few days (maybe 3) the insane tiredness started to taper off and I could function (although somewhat sporadically). I was able to get up and go to work and usually the wave of sleepiness wouldn't hit me until the evening again, once I was home from work. I did abuse the caffeine just a bit to help me get through the day. Hopefully since you have another two weeks before school you will start to lift out of the foggy blobby hole and be able to function. I'd stock up on the coffee beans or tea bags if I were you though. Let me know how it goes for you. Hoping for the best! Echo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted August 5, 2005 Author Share Posted August 5, 2005 OH! Also just noticed that you're taking the Depakote at lunch and dinner. That's probably what's doing it for you. I was taking mine all at bed time. Is this an option for you? I found that if I took it 1-2 hours before I intended to go to sleep I slept like a baby and the fogginess was easier to cut through in the morning. This was my pdocs suggestion as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pressmama Posted August 5, 2005 Share Posted August 5, 2005 OH! Also just noticed that you're taking the Depakote at lunch and dinner. That's probably what's doing it for you. I was taking mine all at bed time. Is this an option for you? I found that if I took it 1-2 hours before I intended to go to sleep I slept like a baby and the fogginess was easier to cut through in the morning. This was my pdocs suggestion as well. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My pdoc suggested TID dosing, but that didn't work for me having to take it with lots and food and water. I have an appointment with him Monday and will probably discuss the dosing schedule. It's definitely working in that I can leave the house now. I don't know if it's the depakote that brought me out of my mixed state or my normal cycling schedule...I'm thinking it's a little of both. I can feel the depakote increasing in my system and I know it's non-linear in its days to reach a steady state and I only went up to 750 about 9 days ago plus I'm on so much other stuff...who knows what's going on in my liver and brain Ideally, in talking with him, I'd like to get through my monthly visitor next week and then talk about increasing the dose a little before school starts as necessary. I can sort of feel my cognitive functions coming back (it's kinda like the Futurama episode with the big brains if you follow that show at all...) but not as quickly as I'd like of course. I had mania-induced brain fog anyway, so I'd be screwed on and off the meds!! Rather be on them and not a danger to myself!! I know there's an extended release formula, but I tend to have bad reactions to those across the board in several classes of drugs. Plus, I'm reluctant to fill another rx unless absolutely necessary because the school pharmacy isn't available to me until classes start and its VASTLY cheaper than a regular one. (Like $20 instead of $68!!) I'm just trying to work on my patience skills and remind myself that things won't get fixed overnight but will get better with time and that the most important thing is taking care of myself. And it's not bad to devote entire days to that if I need to. It's just a hard lesson for me to remember. As far as your situation, 1 week at 250 doesn't seem like much of a trial. Of course your pdoc knows best. How's the effexor working? I've seen a lot of reports here that it has aggravated cycling. I hope it hasn't for you. Good luck and thanks for the advice!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telescopium Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 God, you feel like the blob now, just wait for the weight gain. Evil evil depakote. Tired, Dizzy and fat. I think I rather be depressed thanks much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doraluma Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 ooooo quetiapine!!!!! i was on 200mg am and 200mg pm well, it got me out of psychosis but within 20 minutes of taking it the room would start to spin and i would crawl to my bed. i slept 10 hours. so i was awake for 4 hours a day!!!!! no one believed me (pdoc said i was 'uncomliant when i refused to increase my dose, or even take the prescribed dose anymore) until my gp came round to see me after i explained there was noooo way i could make it into the surgery in that state. it never got better. i became increasingly non-compliant as i wasnt psychotic anymore and wanted some semblance of a life!!! switched to risperidone. dora xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.