Divalproex sodium User Reviews & Ratings (Page 4)

• Ross
• October 31, 2019

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Mania "My mother who has a mental disability and is 56 years old was prescribed this medication twice while residing in a long term care facility under the reasons of "behavior." The first time she was on approximately 1000mg and it made her sleep for hours, put her in a fog, made her delay in response if she even responded at all. I asked several times for her to be taken off of the medicine and the facility was disagreeable. She was hospitalized for malnutrition and severe dehydration where I was able to convince the doctors to remove most of the dosage. They kept her on a low dosage between 125mg to 250mg. She did fine, three years later they increased the med to approximately 500 mg and put her on more behavior meds. Same thing happened, went back to hospital this time with sepsis in the blood from lack of hydration and UTI. This medicine is good for some and not for others, doctors should listen when expressing concerns and symptoms caused by this med."

• Beach...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• March 17, 2019

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Depakote has worked amazing well for me for the past 2 decades. I have changed over to something else for a short period of time when it became ineffective. That has only happened 3 times in 17 years. It is not the greatest drug when you have to get off of it. You have to taper down very slowly."

• sf100
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• February 7, 2018

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety 35 years ago, but finally received a diagnosis on the bipolar spectrum two years ago at the age of 60. Depakote ER (2000mg at night) fixed things I didn't know were wrong and has stilled the ultradian cycling that was really my problem all along. I feel luck that the only side effects I have encountered are hair loss at first (now resolved) and occasional heartburn. It relieved most of my depressive and hypomanic symptoms within three weeks, but I just added Lamictal to help a little more with depressive symptoms. I take a complicated stack of meds to manage psych. symptoms, but Depakote is by far the most important."

• Sion
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• July 12, 2016

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "2007 - Put on 750 mg/day of Depakote alongside Lithium 800 mg/day. Killed libido stone dead. Did not help stabilise mood but worked away destabilising good lithium effect. Found this out after stopping Depakote 2014. Depakote has caused prostate cancer which was removed by radical prostatectomy June 2014. So it has caused me to be severely incontinent now, with erectile dysfunction. This month June 2016 it has been confirmed I have Multiple Myeloma a blood cancer. Depakote is the suspected trigger again. These effects result from being put on Depakote for seven years with no investigation of physical symptoms being reported to "psychiatric professionals""

• J2 Gal
• December 1, 2017

Depakote ER (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "I'm going to say this. This medication has been a lifesaver for me. I've been on it for six months now. I take it for migraines, bipolar, and seizures. No noticeable side effects except for a lot of ear popping. I am a lot calmer than what I used to be. My anxiety is still there but it isn't as bad as it was. I can actually function on this medication. My family can be around me now. I used to rapid cycle and have mixed episodes at least ten times a week. Now they're gone. It's nice to be normal for a change. No grandiose delusions. No audible delusions. I am a little bit sleepier than normal. But with a change of diet, I'm okay. No hair falling out. Just the normal hair loss when it comes to the change of weather."

• M M 555
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• December 9, 2016

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "I take depakote 500mg extended release at night for bipolar. Mostly mania. I like depakote because it keeps me leveled. I feel normal. No mania. No depression. I do sometimes have trouble sleeping but not much. I have felt nauseous but I'm gonna go to my primary doctor because my psych says the nausea would've happened in the beginning of depakote and I've been on it for a while so probably not caused by depakote. Anyone taking depakote, make sure you go to your follow ups to check liver enzymes in your blood since it can cause liver damage. Overall I think depakote is effective for me. I tried lamictal and abilify and I hated them. They made my ankles swell up to 4 times their size. My ankles were very red and painful and swollen."

• X21389
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 20, 2014

Depakote ER (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Had to take it in conjunction with Seroquel for it to work. Currently on 1g of Depakote ER per day and 50mg of Seroquel per night. With the two mood stabilizers, I am able to take 20mg of Dexedrine ER for my ADHD to focus on work/school without spinning myself into a hypomanic episode. Keep experimenting, until you find what works. I know it can be discouraging, but you'll get there eventually."

• Depab...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 4, 2018

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "After the birth of my daughter I had a depressive episode, I would like to note I was 40 pounds over weight after having my daughter, normal after childbirth. I delivered a healthy baby and my pregnancy had no complications and I had normal lab results on physicals before depakote. After being on it, I ballooned up another 40 pounds. The depakote messed with my thyroid issues, gave me obesity, sleeping about sixteen hours a day, mental fog, severe fatigue, depression, fatty liver diagnosis. I like walking every day and after the depabloat I could not get the energy to walk anymore. The doctor blamed everything on me, (wonderful doctor). Before depakote, I did not have any of these problems. So beware. The professionals can care less what the medication does to you. I wouldn’t take this medication again. This was all over the course of eight months. The doctors will blame you for every adverse side effect to cover their own bottoms when prescribing this crud of a medication."

• mouse...
• July 19, 2013

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Have been Bipolar since 89. I have been on Depakote for 9 years, 500 mg x 3. I went from 210lbs to 304lbs. I have been on just about everything over the years. A little bit lethargic, but this seems to have stabilized me the best."

• BAEEE...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• March 30, 2015

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Depakote worked for me as a mood stabilizer, but caused a lot of side effects. Weight gain = 30 pounds in 3 months and pancreatitis. Doctors didn't realize the pancreatitis was from the combination of two of my medications until I had it three times - pancreatitis is excruciatingly painful and lead to me losing my job from losing so much time at work. I'm giving this medication a low rating event though it worked well for my mood because there are so many other medications out there for bipolar that are weight neutral and don't cause organ damage."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 21, 2021

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Migraine Prevention "I was using this drug for my insane migraine attacks. Before taking this medicine, I had migraine headaches with stomach ache, nausea, being sleepy, feeling extremely fatigued that I wasn't even able to get up out of bed, trouble in speaking and understanding the others, trouble in reading and writing. Started Depakote 250 once daily. Then gradually increased to 1000 daily. Worked great! I didn't have all that symptoms after being on this drug. Instead of having migraine, all day all night 7 days of week, I had like once a day for like 2 hours with mild symptoms. I was amazed by the result and it helped me so much. But I was still having migraine everyday. So my doctor prescribed Propranolol alongside Depakote. After that, I had migraine like once a week. But over time less and less migraines happened. After 2 years of being on this medicine, I quit and didn't have migraine even after quiting the drug. So I'm really amazed by the result. I didn't gain any weight. No serious side effect"

• nonenn
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• February 8, 2020

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Was given a choice of Depakote or Lithium when diagnosed with bipolar three years ago. I chose Depakote while knowing nothing about it. I've had three manic episodes in my life and Depakote's brought me back down from every one. And since I have mixed episodes, they get really dangerous, so I probably owe Depakote my life. Only downside I've experienced is nausea and vomiting, it can hit pretty hard and out of nowhere sometimes. Made me want to stop the drug at one point, but for me the pros outweigh the cons. You have to get your blood tested every few months and it interacts with some other medications (like Lamictal) so take care."

• J A J
• July 24, 2017

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Epilepsy "I used to have a wonderful smart son. About 12 years ago, I noticed changes starting to take affect in his life. He was becoming agitated, he was loosing his memory, he had no energy. I was told this was due to his having so many seizures. I just this week, after having a really bad week a few weeks ago, the doctor decided to take him off of this medication in a hospital controlled setting. After one day of not taking this medication, I am starting to see the personality of my son come back. He had gotten to the point that he made terrible decisions, he was depressed often, he was confused and was loosing his memory and his ability to talk and remember words. I'm sorry, but the benefits of controlling seizures was not worth this."

• Manuel
• May 15, 2016

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Noticed that depakote improved stability of mood and reduced depression. However, it did not help with mania mood swings. This drug also totally removed my libido. I have never experienced such an inability for sexual activity than while taking this drug. A week after stopping the drug and sexual libido is back. I would avoid this drug if male."

• Build...
• August 26, 2014

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Epilepsy "Started with Depakote upon being diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy in my teens. I took it for years without issue. I decided to switch to Keppra XR because of potential liver issues with Depakote and the somewhat tiresome redundancy of labwork related to Depakote use. Keppra XR did not work for me as my memory began growing progressively worse and I could not think clearly. I also began losing my train of thought mid sentence fairly often. Switched back to Depakote ER, and am feeling much better mentally. The quarterly labwork is not a big deal when compared to being in a mind fog for over a year. That's my experience, hope everyone finds what's right for them. P.S. I do not take generics, noticeably more side effects."

• Medbag
• December 2, 2015

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "I've taken a lot of meds in 19 years and took Depakote for around 1 yr. Weight gain about same as Lithium. This drug gave me hallucinations at night and freaked me out big time. Beware. I didn't hallucinate before the drug and now that I've stopped it 6 months ago - no Depakote = no hallucinations"

• P I S...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• August 19, 2019

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Depakote has proved a good med to keep me from being manic, has twice Brought me down from mania, both times with increased dosage. Much more effective than antipsychotics alone, namely abilify, zyprexa and seroquel. Now I am on 2 grams a day, split into 1 gram doses twice a day. Great for mania, not for depression. I'm currently in a depressive episode, recently started another med for that, alongside the depakote. I struggle to control my appetite on Depakote, but eating healthy, wholesome meals helps me not to give in to unhealthy cravings. Good outweighs the bad for me :)"

• Anonymous
• June 20, 2012

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Manic bi-polarism for 7 years. Know I'm a type "A" person, Depokote, Effexer, zanix. I come from the medical field, lab and had seen people come in for blood work on everything from lithium to thorazine. I have (with M.D. agreement) backed down from 500mg ER Depokote, to 250mg ER every evening along with a sleeping pill. The sleeping pill is new, so next time I will give the name. When "they" found me, I was so gone into what we call our "BLACK HOLE". I truly have no idea what all they tried....BUT the Depakote, according to my wife (Nurse for 34 yrs) was my marriage and life saver."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 28, 2016

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Epilepsy "This medicine took 3 weeks to fully kick in. I had the side effect of increased appetite, but I haven't gained any weight because I eat a low carb diet and workout 4 times a week. I do not have any side effects anymore and this mostly controls my temporal lobe epilepsy."

• Yellehs
• Taken for 10 years or more
• January 7, 2018

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "I've taken depakote for 13 years along with citalapram. 250 mg depakote with 10 mg of citalapram. It helped with my intense excitability, my severe depression and suicidal thoughts which happened to me 2 weeks out of the month. It was so bad. After taking these meds I felt so much better like a "normal" person. I had no side effects. My symptoms were down to 3 days instead of 3 weeks which I could deal with and didn't want to kill myself anymore. I'm an bipolar and/or pmdd. They are not working for me anymore so I'm going to have to change to something else. Hope this helps someone. :)"

• Gage...
• October 6, 2015

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "I honestly don't know how many stars to give this medication as much as I've never had such an experience. I was in a coma light sleep when my therapist came, I heard myself say "we need to go to the airport" when actually I never said anything at all. I felt drunk waking up, started losing my hearing, it got cloudy. I only took it a month but being in that state of mind frightened me.I gave it up and my hearing is mostly back about 98 percent but my balance and coordination still suffers from the medication but has improved since I stopped it. I was so upset that I called the FDA and reported my experience, I would hate for anyone to go through that.On the plus side? When I was awake and aware and not "drunk" it did help my manic episodes."

• Rusty
• June 17, 2015

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Bipolar Disorder "Since 2006 I have been on some sort of med for my depression or what my family doctor thought was depression. First med was Lexapro and boy did it send me into a manic stage. Never felt so high in my life, a cloud was lifted. That drug worked for a while but soon after it lost its effectiveness. Tried about every SSRI on the market until we ran out and at that point I did not want to live anymore. Family dr sent me to a psychiatric hospital in which I saw my first pyschiatrist who said my OCD was the root of my depression so he put me on Luvox along with my Klonopin. After a while I seemed better but not for long. Been on Depakote ER 1000MG ever since and everything seems fine, except weight gain. Mood better."

• Anonymous
• April 6, 2008

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Mania "i have been using depakote for over one year and it has helped me with my manic episodes, i have not had any since i started the medicine, it does not however do much in regards to racing thoughts and helping me stay positive. hoping for a cure : )"

• Manny
• March 10, 2016

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Migraine Prevention "Started having migraines about ten years ago. The only treatment that has ever worked for me is Depakote. Everybody is different, but for me this was a Godsend. Nothing worked and Topomax was only a temporary solution. The thing is that after a two month regiment my headaches completely went away. I stopped taking the medication for two or three years before my migraines returned. I went on another regiment and again I went several years without a headache. Yes, I did have slight weight gain, and yes it did affect my ability to perform sexually, but I did not have to continue taking it for more than 3 months. Cysticercosis as a child and a catalyst of factors cause my headaches. Depakote works."

• Heron...
• July 14, 2017

Depakote (divalproex sodium) for Epilepsy "Have taken this med for 28+ years with no seizures during this time. I have experienced no side effects except that my hair has become very curly. Lots of compliments! No down side. I am seizure free. No other med has worked for me."