Posted by Ritch on February 4, 2005, at 12:07:09
In reply to depakote er and increased anxiety/paranoia etc.., posted by nicki on February 4, 2005, at 10:30:55
> has anyone experienced more anxiety on depakote er. I feel very edgy all the time, my head "feels Full" and seem more anxious than ever. My dr. prescribed it at night to help sleep and although it makes me tired, it also seems to keep me from sleeping. My mind races at night. and I get that nervous and panic attack feel.
I take ER also and I've found Depakote generally to be somewhat disruptive of my sleep. Disrupting my sleep leads to more anxiety during the day. It's a weird med.. it will make you *tired*, but it doesn't do squat for me for sleep maintenance. It seems to "fragment" my sleep, and I also wake up early (say 4am) feeling very wide awake and wired. Difficult to get back to sleep sometimes. Then hours later just before I need to get up I start falling off and then the alarm comes on, very frustrating. I've tried taking it earlier in the evening and it doesn't help much. I found relief by adding a little gabapentin at bedtime, but my doc doesn't want me to do that now. I added a little Trileptal instead and it helped, but it's making me sick. FWIW, increased anxiety and paranoia, etc., are adverse events for anticonvulsants. Perhaps Depakote just isn't the one for you. I'm beginning to wonder that myself.
poster:Ritch
thread:453072
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050202/msgs/453136.html