Bipolar Support Group

Hey all, Doctor just added Depakote to my mix and I was wondering if any one else takes it/ what sort of side effects there were etc. I'm particularly concerned about the weight gain side effect because I've been on a diet (and doing really well). This was the doc's second choice to Lithium which I really didn't want to take.

So, any experiences/opinions?

-lmo

hi, i've been on Depakote for years and i haven't experienced any weight gain. i've been dieting still and still loosing weight.

hello lmo,

everybody is different,one gaines weight the other one don't.like starbright said she did not gain any weight,i have been taking depakote all year and gain weight.but i love to eat,so if you on a diet any way maybe you won't.but like i said everybody reacts different on medication so don't be discouraget.give it a try,it defenetly helped me.you got any more questions feel free to pm me.

hugs

sybille

are you a girl? women of child-bearing age should never be on depakote. i lost weight on depakote though. continue with your diet and you SHOULD be fine. it's not as notorious as say, seroquel.

Yeah I'm 25f, I heard there were some side effects about cysts on ovaries.....but I discussed with my doctor the fact that I never want to have kids so it doesn't matter to much to me

Just an FYI, at 25 I didn't want to have kids either. At 28 and 29 I did. You just never know how you are going to look at that issue later.

I was prescribed depakote for a few months. During that time I lost a ton of weight, couldn't get out of bed, missed weeks of school, and couldnt stomach anything but saltines and bread. But then again, I'm sure it affects everybody differently, I just did not have a very pleasant experience on it.

making that choice at 25 means nothing. when you feel your "biological clock ticking", you might change your mind. why completely erase an option for yourself?

I was on it from 8th grade to junior year. And as long as I exercised and maintained good eating habits a I gained minimal weight and what i did gain was mostly muscle. It kind of worked like a steroid.However when I dislocated my shoulder and quit working out, I gained a lot. But that gain didn't happen til I was a junior and it was exactly when I stopped being healthy. I did not know about the cysts I don't have any but that was kinda risky. I didn have to start the depo shot for birth control on it because my hormones fluctuated so my meds would fluctuate ( i was a teen though) once on the birth control I had two fairly decent years on it.

I was on it since January up until about a month ago, and it worked well for me. I didn't notice any weight gain, but I hesitate to weigh myself because I find it depressing since I know I'm out of shape, but don't have the motivation to correct that. I stopped taking it because it would arbitrarily make me throw up, at least once a month. I ignored that side effect for a while, but eventually it got to be more than I was willing to put up with.