Can Depakote bring your bad moods up

You already know.. bipolar is BOTH ''up & down''. I have to say this carefully.. my research (relating to my daughter is bipolar) indicated that anti depressants r RISKY for someone who is bipolar. If u think about it.. anti depressant would push ''up''.. so, what happens when the bipolar ALSO pushes u ''up''?? NIMH (Natl Inst. Mental Health) actually has a precaution about exactly this.
On the other hand.. depakote is a mood STABILIZER, which normally works to moderate the extremes of both sides. Moods r normal, ok? We ALL feel both happy or sad. It is the extremity of those feelings that gets into being bipolar. So, what the Dr says about it being both, is RIGHT.
I see exactly what u r saying, as to concerns about the two of them conflicting with each other. So, personally, I'd prefer to focus on the one that targets both the ups/downs. Just makes more sense, right?
No.. 1250 is absolutely not a huge dosage. The ''right'' dose depends on many things.. no one is the same as to how extreme the ends of the moods are. For safety sake.. he should be starting u LOW, & increasing it in increments, until it ''kicks in''. That is how they insure that u r not taking MORE than is needed. No one knows for sure what the therapeutic level is, so it is a bit of trial & error.
Your levels needed can fluctuate. Let is say 1250 works good. You get into a real stressful thing that pushes u over the edge. So, what did work, may need increasing then. Or, ur body might later develop a tolerance thing that means it does not work as it did. Like persons who r now developing resistance to antibiotics, if u r aware of this.
Also.. u seem aware, & this is fantastic. You can HELP the meds, by educating yourself on how to be alert to moods, & alternate ways to manage them. The standard stuff like walking is positive to get people out of feeling 'down'. Push yourself to get out of the house with some friends. Someone who KNOWS they r 'up' (close to manic) could force themselves to do something calming. Like, choosing to do a relaxing, moderate thing like listening to jazz music at home, instead of going out to a club, which would be maybe over stimulating. Keep ur sleep schedule as regular as u can. Use ur power along with the meds to try & manage the extremes.
Above all.. understand bipolar is not ur 'fault', u r not a bad person. The more accepting of this that u are, the more u feel ok with getting the help u need.

Yes, yes & yes... My husband is bi-polar & takes 1500 mg of depakote daily- without it, I can tell within a few days that he has not been taking his meds. I find him in a ball on the floor in the dark, or not getting out of bed all day. And he gets increasingly paranoid that I am fooling around on him which could not be further from the truth. With the depakote, he can reason things out & not react to his thoughts. nobody likes the idea that they need drugs to be stable... but sometimes we all do...about every 3 months he decides to cut back his meds on his own & we ride the wave for a few days..Depakote is the only drug he is on right now.

I personally am on 1500 mg of depakote. I will tell u what I know . when u r bipolar u can not take depression medicine. It does not interact with mood stabilizers & can actually make ur mood more manic than depressed. Sure it is okay to feel depressed but medicine for people like us is only used in severe depression cases. If u r severely depressed then u would need hospital care but otherwise like me u can fight that part to make sure the rest of u stays stable.

Like any illness medicine is not a cure all u must become aware of ur illness & fight different things on ur own.

is ur doctor a psychiatrist. if just a medical doctor u need to change doctors that know more about mental illness.

I honestly do not know the answer to your question, but I just wanted to say that you should be careful when upping your dosages. Being on three meds, one being 1250mg, is a lot. Be careful! And good luck!