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Irritability Issues Since They Upped My Depakote Dosage. Has Anyone Else Had An Issue Such As This?

A MyEpilepsyTeam Member asked a question 💭
Rochelle, IL

I’ve been in the psych ward twice since they upped my dosage, but the dr.s don’t seem to put two and two together.

July 1, 2023
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A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member , My Pediatric Neurologist started me on Depakote & I saw him till I was in my late 20’s or about 30. By December 2018 I was 40 & had been on probably the same dosage of Depakote for over 10 years. Then in December 2018 I began to notice my arm shaking just a little but as months progressed both arms started shaking so bad off & on & I would holler “Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!”. My right leg also would shake off & on. My vision would get blurry either right as I left for work or just as I got to work at the fast food burger place I was working at. My leg muscles tightened up while waiting till it was time to clock in one time & I went home cause I could hardly walk. I got light headed at work one day & my Mom took me to our after hours Family clinic & luckily I got to see our former Family doctor who’s familiar with my seizures & he saw I hadn’t had blood work done in almost a year but I had gone several months without any insurance & so he had me do blood work & it showed my Depakote level was at 135 & normal is between 50 to 100 & so he adjusted my Depakote dosage & after several months the shaking finally stopped. Around 2014 another I had seen had me do a bone density test because he said long term use of Depakote could possibly cause Osteoporosis & the bone density test showed I have Osteopenia in my left hip. That Neurologist recommended I take Vitamin D & my current Neurologist continues to recommend the Vitamin D. I continue to take the Depakote 750mg in the morning along with my Vimpat 100mg & at night I take my Depakote 1 Depakote 500mg & 1 Vimpat 150mg. If your blood work hasn’t been done lately then that might need to be done & might help explain some things like it did for me & my dosage was adjusted & things got better. Just talk to your doctor about your issues. I hope things get better. Your friend in Texas, Becky

July 3, 2023
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

I got off Depakote cuz of headaches and had been taking it since I was diagnosed

July 2, 2023
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

I’m going to see my psychiatrist on Wednesday, and talking with my counselor with my wife. I just don’t think she trusts info from Mayo Clinic and other sources over my drs. I’ll bring up switching my meds, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen.

July 1, 2023
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

Tell them to take you off of depakote...It caused my daughter to hallucinate and she tried to hurt herself and me..Depakote is a very dangerous drug..It causes bad reactions in some people.. CBD oil and the VNS has done amazing with my daughter...Please talk to the dr.about them...The only way the Drs took my daughter off of depakote was I refused to check her out of the hospital until they changed har meds

July 1, 2023

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