Posted by Mitch on December 31, 2001, at 17:39:22
In reply to Re: Depakote, posted by Tedr on December 31, 2001, at 11:02:49
> > > I recently was asked to try gabitril for augmenting and eventually trying to replace the xanax I take for GAD. I also take Wellbutrin SR for depression. The Gabitril made me very spacey and unfocused, so the Pdoc thought that I should try Depakote at 125mgs twice a day to see if this could start to smooth out the anxiety, and lessen the need for xanax. I don't particularly like the side effect profile of Depakote, and I am curious to find out if 250mgs/day would even be helpful, without still having to worry about hair loss, reduced carnitine,Selenium and other levels etc. I thought gabapentin might be a better choice because in the past, I didn't have the side effect worry and only felt a little sleepy, when I took gabapentin briefly. The pdoc though, definitely feels that I have a GABA related anxiety, and related depression problem, and feels depakote would be the best help at even the low dose, although at this dose, when I took it a few days, I still had nausea, and a funny feeling of nervousness. Thank god for xanax, and I would be resolved to take it chronically at high enough therapeutic doses, if I could get a clear cut go ahead from my physician. I would definitely appreciate any feedback especially regarding Depakote vs Gabapentin for me, and how much gabapentin might be needed to work. I reiterate, that I did feel awful on the gabitril. I think because it is not specific enough for uping only GABA-A...Thanks for the help... I currently take 1.5mgs of xanax a day and 150mgs of wellbutrin SR.
> >
> >
> > Well,
> >
> > It sounds like Gabitril is the new med that docs are probably thinking they can wean people off benzos with. I took it and had a bad experience. I haven't heard *anyone* here have a good experience with it for anxiety (speak up-now's the time!). I *did* find gabapentin helpful for anxiety. Depakote helped some, too. I didn't gain much weight on it (about 20 lbs at 500mg/day). At 125mg twice daily you might not experience that much trouble with it. I didn't gain *any* weight with Neurontin though.
> >
> > Mitch
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> >Thanks for the feedback on Depakote and Gabapentin. I know the doc only asked me to take a low dose of Depakote, but Gabapentin is a much cleaner med, and if it also helps with anger and rage, which I have, that would be great. Just an observation, but 20 lbs is a significant weight gain, unless you are underweight. What exactly is the weight gain attributed to with Depakote? One final thought,is that I feel that there definitely is a push by the developer of Gabitril to initiate it for Benzo treated patients. My doc said side effects would be minimal, but the PI suggests a different scenario......Thanks..TedWell, the behavioural neurologist I saw once told me that *everyone* he has put on Depakote gains a significant amount of weight. I found that 300mg twice-three times daily of Neurontin worked very well for anger problems and didn't cause any weight gain. I would try that first, hey-if it doesn't work, then try the Depakote. I wasn't all pissed about the weight gain on the Depakote-it is just that I found Neurontin to do a better job (mainly antidepressant-wise) for *me* than the Depakote.
I think there is going to be a lot of "boomerangs" with people trying Gabitril. I haven't seen anything close to a success story with it. I wonder if many docs are using it get people weaned off benzos, and if they have trouble with the Gabitril-they will just stop the Gabitril and replace it with some other non-benzo. There is a growing amount of paranoia here in the US about benzos and stimulants lately, and docs are probably worried about lawsuits.
Mitch
poster:Mitch
thread:88258
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011222/msgs/88382.html