I had a meeting with my doctor today to discuss my bipolar disorder and she has given me a sheet "choosing the best mood stabiliser for you."
There's just quick summaries of Lithium, Olanzapine, Lamotrigine, Carbamazepine and the one she would like to try me on, Valproate.
Apparently, a couple side effects of Valproate are weight gain and hair loss. I'm obviously not keen on that :/
I was wondering if anybody has been on Valproate or any of these other mood stabilisers and what their experience of these pills were.
All of the mood stabilizers have unfortunate side effects. You can always try it, and if it starts to cause them and you're unhappy about it, stop taking it. I take lithium, and it has those side effects too, but I haven't gotten them. Not everyone gets side effects. Not everyone gets those ones. Don't let the potential side effects stop you from getting better. But at the same time, don't take anything you don't want to.
Last edited by one lie at a time : 13-02-2009 at 06:28 AM.
That's good, hopefully I won't get side effects.
I'm just worried because she's planning to try me on a few on them to see what works better. I've been on stuff before where the side effects were awful and if I'm going to be swapping one med for another every few months, it's bound to effect my body in some way.
Depakene, Convulex, Stavzor, Depakine, Epival and Depakote are all the same thing apparently, according to Wikipedia lol
I think it's used for migraines, epilepsy and other stuff as well nikki1922 so it's probably helping you with something else :]
Ive been on lamotrogine a couple of years + I was a lot better than I had been on it. (Although recently things have got a mess again + I have just had the dose upped from 200mg to 250mg.)
I haven't noticed any side effects at all! (You have to start it extremely slowly though.)
I have this one as my problem is recurrent depressive episodes. I think they look at the balance between highs + lows when they decide which to try first.
well i was on olazapine and put on savage weight its notorious for that,id avoid that if i were you .u mihgt be differebt but almost everyone gets fat ,i put on stone half in a week i have said this b4 so sorry for repeating myself.
lithium is very strong but supposed to be successful i would believe ,girl i was in hospital with used to sleep a lot on it but that was just her
and she was great !!!
hope all goes well for u ,u sound positive and thats good to come across
and that u get med to suit u cos it can be hard good luck!!
I've been on sodium valproate and it worked well, and I didn't get any side effects. Everybody is different though, so what one person will experience, the next person won't. All you can do is try.
I've been on Deoakote since November and it has given me some side effects - at first memory loss but that's O.K. now. I've put on almost a stone in weight and I have shakiness/tremor especially in my hands and my body has involuntary muscle spasms. My co-ordination is affected a bit. I almost fell the other day when my knees way 3 times. Is it working? I don't know, on a good day I would say yes but on a bad day I would say no, but the people around me say I'm better on it. hope it works for you.
I'm currently on Lithium which has is very effective for me but side effects and high levels are very dangerous. I've been on most of the others over the years, I also found olanezpine helpful but did have weight gain problems on it.
carbamazepine can work really well, especially if you're classified as 'rapid-cycling'. I've found that anti-convulsants can give you headaches. But remember that if the regular mood stabilisers don't work there are always drugs which have mood stabilising qualities but aren't conventionally used/ aren't marketed for mood stabilisation. These are known as the 'Maudsley alternatives'. Anyway if you are in the care of secondary mental health care you can always ask to see the clinical pharmacist of your local psychiatric hospital, even if you aren't an inpatient.
I have been on all of those mood stabilisers. Am still on lithium and lamotrigine.
Lithium made me gain weight and i am constantly thirsty.
Valporate was good but it made my liver counts go up so i had to come off it.
In my opinion lamotrigine is the best because i have experienced no side effects with it and apparently this is the case with many people. All you need to look out for is if you develop a rash but thsi is a rare side effect.
