We are weaning off Depakote...

[luvmyottb]

and quite frankly I haven't seen any big changes. She is easier to wake in the AM and the extreme hunger is going down also. She still is in the refrigerator a lot, but it is just a habit.

We were at 500mg XR and are down to 125mg. We stay on this dose for about 12 more days and then we are done. She takes 4 mg of Abilify.

I realize we are not out of the woods yet, but just out of curiousity, has anyone else seen no major changes after coming off Depakote?

We went to the allergist on Tuesday and she was diagnosed with mild asthma. She is doing great with just the flexhaler in the AM and PM and her coughing is going away. Anxious to get the results back from the blood draw to see if what other allergies are in her system. Hoping this could be an easy piece to the puzzle of my GFG.

Have a great weekend with no meltdowns.

[MidwestMom]

My son and daughter were both on Depakote. It did nothing for my son. Withdrawing was a breeze, he seemed a lot more alert. My daughter was a teen in college and said she couldn't "Think" on Depakote and said it made her 'stupid." She slept all the time. She went back to normal off of it. OH, and since depakote can give women ovarian cysts, she had those too. She had them even after she was off, but they haven't bothered her for a while now. This med can cause serious cognitive dulling, shakes, and fatigue and didn't work well for us.

[smallworld]

My two older childern were switched from Depakote to Lamictal because their illnesses lie on the depressive end of the mood disorder spectrum and Depakote was making them irritable and depressed. Lamictal is very good at treating bipolar depression, and my kids are doing well on it.

[Bugsy]

I was wondering how you are slowly weaning off of depakote? We do not think depakote is helping much but when recommended to wean off of it by cutting the XR in half it seemed that my son was getting nausous. Some people say you can cut it and others say you can not cut an XR.

What is your weaning plan?

[smallworld]

Bugsy's mom, you could switch to regular Depakote, which requires twice-a-day dosing, for your weaning plan. Regular Depakote comes in increments of 125 mg, and I'm guessing you could split those tablets if necessary. It's best to check with your pdoc or pharmacist about that.

[TerryJ2]

I'm glad it's going smoothly.
And I'm glad there are others here who have experience.
Best of luck w/the next 2 wks.

[gcvmom]

You should not be cutting any extended-release tablet because it prevents the medication from being released in the body the way it was intended to be done. The tablets have special coatings that slowly allow the medication to be released over time. When you cut that outer layer, you essentially end up giving a huge bolus of the medication, which in some cases could be harmful.

We did not have any problems weaning off Depakote. It did cause cognitive dulling in Gfg2, which did improve once the med was discontinued. I think it also contributed to his tremor, which seems to have also improved.

[jal]

We weaned gfg off of Depakote, Abilify, Straterra and Tenex throughoout the month of July. He started to spiral towards the end of the was which led to a 3 week in patient stay. Interms of side effects like upset/sick stomach, or lessened hunger , no problems with those.

Good luck.

[luvmyottb]

I am weaning by dropping to 250 mg for a week and now we are on 125mg for the next 10 days or so.

I got a prescription for the 250's and 125mg. No splitting of pills, just a new prescription.

Per psych dr. direction.

[amazeofgrace]

hmmm when GFG II was in hosp they pulled him off cold turkey, so needless to say I saw changes, bad ones intially then he was just on abilify and seemed to even out a little