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Depakote, Behaviors, and personality
Mon, 02/11/2008 - 19:22Comments
Re: Depakote, Behaviors, and personality
Submitted by sophiesmom on Fri, 2008-03-07 - 11:21
Re: Depakote, Behaviors, and personality
Submitted by Dragool on Fri, 2008-03-07 - 15:06
With Lamictal, I've been experiencing loads of rashes. They turn into huge welts. I got onto Lamictal Jan. 07 and now I hardly ever get the rashes and when I do, they're not that bad at all anymore. It just took my body a while to get used to them. The other side effect I get is twitches. They occur in my arms, legs, torso even my neck sometimes. My neuro said they were just from stress, but I am on anti-anxiety/depressants and I had never had "stressful twitches" before in my life. I keep thinking they're myoclonic seizures and now my neuro finally believes me. They're like muscle contractions. You don't know when they're coming and of course you can't stop them. They're usually pretty minor, but sometimes they make me jump. Once, I was lying on my side watching TV and my entire torso contracted and my body ended up jumping back about a foot. I'm going to talk to my other neuro in a couple weeks (I'm ridiculously excited for this!).
Overall, I'm much happier with Lamictal because I am not tired at all. The doctors prescribed me 1000mg/day of Depakote at first and that overdosed me. I would sleep all day except when I had to get up to eat or go to classes. They reduced me to 500mg/day but I still had to take naps every day. I am really pleased with Lamictal, I just still have a few kinks to work out with it.
With Lamictal, I've been experiencing loads of rashes. They turn into huge welts. I got onto Lamictal Jan. 07 and now I hardly ever get the rashes and when I do, they're not that bad at all anymore. It just took my body a while to get used to them. The other side effect I get is twitches. They occur in my arms, legs, torso even my neck sometimes. My neuro said they were just from stress, but I am on anti-anxiety/depressants and I had never had "stressful twitches" before in my life. I keep thinking they're myoclonic seizures and now my neuro finally believes me. They're like muscle contractions. You don't know when they're coming and of course you can't stop them. They're usually pretty minor, but sometimes they make me jump. Once, I was lying on my side watching TV and my entire torso contracted and my body ended up jumping back about a foot. I'm going to talk to my other neuro in a couple weeks (I'm ridiculously excited for this!).
Overall, I'm much happier with Lamictal because I am not tired at all. The doctors prescribed me 1000mg/day of Depakote at first and that overdosed me. I would sleep all day except when I had to get up to eat or go to classes. They reduced me to 500mg/day but I still had to take naps every day. I am really pleased with Lamictal, I just still have a few kinks to work out with it.
Re: Depakote, Behaviors, and personality
Submitted by Dragool on Tue, 2008-02-19 - 15:32
I got on Depakote when I was 11. It's hard to tell if it changed my behavior. I was a preteen and was very shy.
The Depakote made me insanely tired. When I got off of it at 15, it felt like I was waking up for the first time in four years.
My seizures came back, and they put me back on Depakote. Now I'm in college and being on Depakote I had to drop three classes because I was so tired. Now I've switched to Lamictal which does not make me tired at all. It has side effects too of course. But I'm not tired all the time anymore.
Talking with her doctor would be a good idea. If you don't like what the medication is doing to her, you can see if any other medication works. Everybody reacts differently to them.
I got on Depakote when I was 11. It's hard to tell if it changed my behavior. I was a preteen and was very shy.
The Depakote made me insanely tired. When I got off of it at 15, it felt like I was waking up for the first time in four years.
My seizures came back, and they put me back on Depakote. Now I'm in college and being on Depakote I had to drop three classes because I was so tired. Now I've switched to Lamictal which does not make me tired at all. It has side effects too of course. But I'm not tired all the time anymore.
Talking with her doctor would be a good idea. If you don't like what the medication is doing to her, you can see if any other medication works. Everybody reacts differently to them.