Depakote Withdrawal

[dragonfly79]

Hello. Today is my first day of being completely off Depakote, and I am having some withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, depressed mood, etc. (those are the main two). I was on 1500mg to start, spent three days on 1000mg, then three days on 500mg. And last night I took none. I am currently on Latuda 40mg, which replaced my Zyprexa and Depakote. I have been on that for 6 weeks and have been doing really well on it. It was not until today that I started feeling excessive worry, anxiety, shakiness, spaciness, and depression. I read that the mood side effects of withdrawal from Depakote only last a few days.

 

So...my question for any of you who have successfully gone off of Depakote is what withdrawal symptoms did you have and how long did they last? Also, how quickly (or slowly) did you wean off? Did anyone experience what I am describing?

 

Thanks to anyone who replies. I do not want to go into panic mode.

 

Edit: My psychiatric nurse practitioner wanted me to stay on 1500mg after ending the Zyprexa for two weeks, then do two weeks at 1000mg, then two final weeks at 500mg before discontinuing. I got so frustrated with the horrible gastrointestinal side effects and weight gain that I wanted to speed things up. However, after feeling those terrible, unstable mental feelings and distress I just took my 1500mg and have decided to go with her plan to avoid really bad withdrawal.

 

I am still curious about what to expect...hopefully not THAT! But at least now I know I am going with an approved plan and can talk freely with my nurse about potential problems without trying to hide the fact that I am rebelling against her plan =). 

Edited April 3, 2014 by dragonfly79

[crtclms]

I went down 250-500mg every two weeks.  I didn't notice any withdrawal side effects, personally.

 

Yeah, there's a reason for the taper. Cold turkey is not good.

[dragonfly79]

Yeah, I found that out! Thanks! I am hoping with the slower taper that I will not have any withdrawal effects.