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Starting Depakote and scared

Thu, 07/13/2006 - 18:44
I went to the neuro today and he changed my meds because I had a seizure the lst of June. He is tapering me off the lamictal and leaving me on topamax and is starting me on Depakote. I will end up being on 200MG of topamax and 500MG of Depakote then in three weeks I have to go get a blood level done. I have read about all the side effects and I am almost afraid to start taking it. I will take it but I am really afraid of it. Does any one have any good things to share about it? Mary

Comments

Re: Re: Re: Starting Depakote and scared

Submitted by wflisa on Wed, 2006-08-09 - 14:18
When I had my first seizure (grand mal) the doctors in the ER gave me some Depakote with some kind of remark that it was the most reliable medication. They also prescribed me to take 1000 mg daily. That amount for me was enough to knock me out for the entire day. I was pretty much unable to do anything; not go to work, not clean house, not do anything that I had been able to do previously. When I finally got through to my Primary Care physician that it was too much, my daily dose was reduced to 750 mg. daily. Only then was I able to get back to doing routine tasks. I hope that you have been able to either function OK with the 1000 mg. or work with your MD to come up with a compromise on how much you can handle on a daily basis.

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