Posted by med_empowered on October 20, 2005, at 16:08:27
In reply to Re: Just diagnosed, doc wants me on Depakote. Help, posted by blueberry on October 18, 2005, at 18:51:01
hey! Im kind of wary of depakote, too...i do writing in my spare-time, too and I found that mood-stabilizers in general can slow things down; with trileptal, this was more pronounced as the dose go higher (900mgs--bad; 1200mgs--slow thinkin, slow talking zombie)..with Depakote, it seemed so strong that it wasn't so much a matter of what dose made me flatten out as it was HOW flattened out each dose made me. Plus, it made me vomit like crazy. I understand where you're doc's coming from, with your problems being considered a "mixed-episode"...I've had some really bad mixed-episodes, a few with psychotic features...its rough. **BUT** the really important thing with DX'ing a true "mental illness" and not simply "mental discomfort/distress" is **functional impairment**--if your thoughts sometimes race and you feel more productive, but you don't lose control of your behavior and do things that could prove destructive--promiscuous sex, suicide attempts, marriages, spending sprees, overseas travel-- then you may be able to find non-chemical ways of dealing with your problems..that's what I've been doing, with pretty good success (I'm not dissing drugs here, or recommending a drug-free treatment plan; I'm just sharing my experiences). There are also much, much milder drugs to try first..a little bit of Klonopin, either taken daily or taken at the first sign of (hypo)mania (or perhaps just unpleasant hypomania/mixed-episodes) can really go along way to help you regain some equilibrium...its also good for helping with behavioral control, so it makes it less likely you'll do stupid, dangerous things (if thats ever been a problem...) Plus, although the low-grade depression is sometimes referred to as a "rare side effect," I've found that it happens A LOT, at least with me and the people I know. Trileptal at doses sufficient to control my occasional agitation/mixed-episodes was also strong enough to flatten my personality and creativity...it also impaired my academic performance, which is a definite no-no in my book. Now, if these problems bother **YOU** enough that you think you need some chemical assistance in controlling them, you should do it....my advice then would be to focus on keeping the dose as low as possible;for me, it seems to be better to go for "symptom-reduction" and improvement in quality of life than to aim for "symptom control" and reaching an "effective" dose. Also...if you're taking an antidepressant, that can sometimes make things worse, although SSRIs and Effexor are better than the tricyclics in that regard. Minimizing your antidepressant dose and the duration of treatment with an AD can help, as can adding in something like Klonopin to keep low-level agitation from getting out of hand...as-needed antipsychotics help some people (I'd advise using them very, very rarely), and as-needed sleep aids can also be of tremendous help in helping you keep an even keel. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:568610
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051017/msgs/569384.html