BPCharlotte Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Whether you were RXd mood stabilisers for bipolar or not, I'm trying to work out the average time people take it until they feel it is really having a positive effect - a) on mood swings, and b) on depression, if applicable. And how long did you have side effects for until they either wore off or you became used to them? Sorry for keep asking this kind of thing, but all I find on the net is the standard pharm/med averages, which are not the same as RL people to me. Or maybe I've just not hit on the right places yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrea3821 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I've been on Depakote for three weeks now. I was on Abilify right before that and Pristiq right before that. I think the Depakote has stabilized me as far as med-induced moods, probably faster than I would have stabilized if I had not had it on board. But I pretty much just feel like I felt before I started meds at all: depressed. I have crying spells, some suicidal thoughts and I have probably *more* bitchy moments than I did before b/c I'm just plain tired of being tired of it all. I have a very agitated variety of mood, and I don't think the Depakote has helped at all, at least not yet. I haven't had any side effects other than weight gain, five pounds so far. Yuck. I see my pdoc next week and I have a feeling that my cocktail is about to change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Whether you were RXd mood stabilisers for bipolar or not, I'm trying to work out the average time people take it until they feel it is really having a positive effect - a) on mood swings, and b) on depression, if applicable. And how long did you have side effects for until they either wore off or you became used to them? The answers to those vary enormously depending on which mood stabilizers you're talking about. Lithium can be a couple days, while Lamictal can take several weeks or even two or three months to really get to a suitable level for some people. I've generally had it take at least a month to really get a sense of what they do to me with the ones I've tried (Trileptal, Topamax, Lamictal...stuff like that that takes a while to work up to a reasonable dose in the first place), but I also haven't been primarily taking them for mood, even if some of them have sometimes had an effect on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPCharlotte Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 Thanks for your input... I'm on Depakote, but only 500mg daily as the SEs sucked too much (not me being over dramatic I have to add, but because my hubby wasn't up for doing EVERYTHING... which was how it was at first until I lowered the dose) and this is my 7th week on it. Been charting my moods but have to say I don't see any difference yet, and if anything I was more depressed a couple of weeks back - things were pretty rough. I've put on some weight, but I'm not too fussed. I'm not a beached whale or anything. Still snatching extra sleep whenever poss, but not as tired now. Tinnitus has subsided to a reasonable level, and I'm not quite as irritable apart from when things are bad. Those were some of the main problems at start-up for me. Kind of wondering if it's gonna work at this low a dose at all tbh. Pdoc says it's a therapeutic dose, but for some reason they don't seem interested in checking blood levels which is always talked about here. Idk. So... anyone on Depakote with a rough idea of how long to keep at it until cycling slows noticeably? FYI - very rapid cycling. Put it this way - my pdoc insists on HOURLY mood charting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarie Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 So... anyone on Depakote with a rough idea of how long to keep at it until cycling slows noticeably? FYI - very rapid cycling. Put it this way - my pdoc insists on HOURLY mood charting... When we added Depakote to the rest of my cocktail (Lithium, Lamictal, some Seroquel), it did not do much at 500mg. At 750mg, it started to slow the cycling within about two weeks. At 1000mg, it slowed even more, again within around two weeks. Perhaps efficacy picked up for another couple weeks, but I'd say I got what I got within a month. Side effects (hair loss and insatiable hunger) took around six months to abate. I think you need to push our pdoc for a diagnosis. To be honest, 500mg of Depakote monotherapy for seven weeks does not sound as if you pdoc is treating bipolar (assuming you didn't tie his hands on treatment). If he is treating bipolar, I personally would ask him to be more aggressive, but that's me. Depakote at 500mg may or may not be in the therapeutic range. It was not for me. I was just barely in the range at 750mg, and still at the very low end on 1000mg. Each person is different, so my results tell you nothing about what you level is. The only take away is that you can't know your level by your mgs. With Depakote, blood work on the functioning of your guts is almost more important than serum level unless you are on a high dose (note, I said almost, sl is important, too). Depakote can mess with a lot. You want a full panel before starting for baseline and then routine testing while on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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