Information on Depakote

Depakote (mood stabilizer) can make you gain weight. I have taken it and I gained about 40 pounds.

Right now I take Lamictal 200 mg (also a mood stabilizer) and I am back at a normal weight. Also I think Lamictal works better.

For bi-polar, I also take geodon 40 mg (for mania) and abilify 10 mg (for depression).

But meds do affect everyone differently, maybe your husband will have better luck on Depakote.

Meds are not an exact science. Every med is going to affect each person differently some may work well with bipolar on one person while causing another to be violent. Give the med time do not give up just because it is not working right away and be honest with the Doc on what it is doing. Depakote did not work as well for me as some of the other meds I've taken, but it did help some.

I used it quite a few years ago as a prevention for migraine. It did not really seem to do much for me, except one thing.made me go to the bathroom. I do not want to be graphic, but the frequency of my bowel movements increased to 3 or 4 times a day. They were not loose, but the urgency was quite dramatic. Basically, every time I ate, I needed to go within an hour or so. Kind of inconvenient if you are trying to say.do anything normal at all.