STEPHEN FRY

Dear TopBird,

I have been on sodium valporate for about a year (800mg at night) and find it better than depixol injections which I was on. My hair is falling out alittle but I find it falls out less if I don't touch it ever ever. I get itchy skin and scratching my head was the worst for my hair falling out. When I first went on it I was very hungry and craving.

Luckily I feel no "zombie" effects.

I am going to keep taking the medication as I am definately better on it than off it. I have a life now and am studying for a degree. I hope that the doctors are not going to increase my dose but I have an appointment on Monday to discuss this option. Wish me luck!

Catriona

I myself take sodium valproate, have been for about 4 years now, I was diagnosed with MD in the summer of 2002, I was prescribed with Valproate, to this day I've hated taken them, I take them when I want to or when i'm pressured into taking them by my family, a couple of years ago I was also taking Venlafaxeine and Olanzopeine for my nerves and anxiety, I think, but I was taken off them, cos all I was doing was sleeping and it came to a head when I took my days medication, and i just slipped into bed and slept for the better part of 3 days.

Now i'm just on Valproate, I don't feel there doing anything for me, even when I take them regular I don't feel any different, I just feel like boring old David, all the time, I understand the whole issues about damaging the liver and that and there is many times i've refused to goto the doctors after a blood test to discuss the results, and discuss my medication, I just don't know what to do because my GP's are useless, the amount of times i've had to argue with them over various meds I need, I just sick of going to see them now.

But I realise I have to because I have a killer addiction to painkillers, specifically Kapake Co-Codamol and Tramadol, it's now at the point where I can take 1 weeks supply in 2 days, all without killing myself, and the other week I stupidly took a handful of painkillers 12-15 hours before a blood test, the doctors keep calling for me, but I keep resisting the call, I mean I know I have a poblem, i've admitted it, but what people don't understand is that taking all those painkillers calms my depression, I know it's a killer, and I will accidentally end up dead one day if i'm not careful, I know that, i'm just too stubborn to look for help, to look for alternatives, to get answers, shit like that, I'm now at a point where I just don't know what to do, It's quite pointless people trying to help me, because I haven't figured out how to help myself, my problem is now that i've been addicted to painkillers since I was 20, i'm 24 now and I don't remember anything different

Well most of this post should probably belong in another thread

Sorry for going off topic

but any ideas would be very grateful

all the best

Fozz

Hi TopBird, although the various replies to your email have all been equally important in helping us to share our thoughts and help one another with our various diagnoses I think people have got off your topic a bit...
Something I wanted to raise is that there is Sodium Valproate and then Valproate Semisodium, or Depakote, to give it it's drug company name. I'm still not entirely sure about the difference but a pharmacist once told me to make the distinction between the two when asking for a prescription because apparently Depakote is the better of the two. (?)
I've been taking Depakote for 3 years along with antidepressants and the odd fix of Valium when needed and the combination has really gone a long way to sorting my head out. I was really surprised during the second part of the documentary (which I only saw last night) which gave Lithium as pretty much the only medication people with bipolar disorder could take, even though the doctor shown with Stephen had a desk full of other boxes. Perhaps there wasn't time to go into every possiblity but I feel it should have been given a wider angle.
Anyway, as yet I've had no bad side effects on Depakote, aside from nausea and dizzy spells in the beginning (the person who stopped taking them after a day- I really urge you to give it longer- the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks) as Richard Dreyfuss said it gives you a 'pillar-box'- I get a mental cushion either side of my mood swings which while not 'curing' me gives the perspective to realise when you are on an upper or downer and therefore the time to proactively cope.
I have read the accompanying leaflet to my meds from cover to cover and have not heard anything about polycystic ovaries which certainly concerns me- the only thing I would be concerned about is getting pregnant while taking my meds (never intend to have kids anyway) as they can be born with 'Valproate Syndrome' which can cover anything from learning difficulties and low growth rate to spina bifida and genetic deformality which is certainly something to think about.
A great site that I found to get more information about valproaic acid is http://www.crazymeds.org/depakote.html written by a fellow sufferer who is also incredibly erudite in his descriptions of exactly how he feels. I recommend all to this website, regardless of their query.

Hope that this has been some help- turned into a bit of a bible actually but I thought it needed to be said.

Good luck to anyone who reads this and much kudos to Mr. Fry.

Michca x

I have been on sodium valporate for about 3-4 years, but it wasn't really 100% effective until very recently when my doctors combined that with lithium as well. I now feel they may have stumbled on the answer for me to stay calm in my manic phases, meaning I shouldn't suffer from the effects of the "LOWS", depression as much or at all. I will know more after about the middle of December 2006, just before xmas which is when I am due to finish my current episode of mania, if the drugs are working I will be able to be stable and continue with my life "normally" without going into another 3-6 month depression, suffering with the reclusiveness and social phobia. I am crossing my fingers that this is the answer to the mess I have had to put up with that is my life. Even though the mania provides me with some wonderful ideas (songwriting, musical ideas, business ideas) and a great deal of energy to live life again, it ultimately results in my downfall, with money, career, relationship problems etc. To be stable would mean alot to me, it would mean I could possibly be successful in my life, because success has been taken away from me so many times with this condition over the last 20 years.

I'm glad to see this thread right through till now (Valentine's Day 2007) and I hope more will give experiences regarding Sodium Valproate.

Very nearly three years ago, after 32 years (!) of crippling anxiety and panic disorder, my regular symptoms started changing into what I now know is Manic Depressive Illness. I was prescribed SV and was carefully monitored (blood work, general moods, a bit of therapy) for the best part of six months till a "working level" of SV controlled the Manic Depressive symptoms, levelled out just a tad north of level. I'd had rapid cycling MDI.

I no longer have Anxiety Disorder (apparently) and, recently, have been trying to push that to the limit. Going on the Underground at rush hour .. Whew! But I was fine, found it amusing.

I am a writer (aren't we all?) and find my writing is better for SV ...

On the side? A tremor in the hands (handwriting is a mess, but I type just about everything or make my "X".) I sleep far better, for sure. Some sexual side effects which are rather positive, if curious at first. I was blessed with thin hair donkey's years ago and have not lost more through SV. I've had high blood pressure for many years. So diet and rest and it is usually OK.

For a year now, I've not been in therapy. My GP checks me out regularly. I do miss the therapy, but more as an intellectual exercise. If I had my life to live over, I'd be a psychologist.

Would I take SV again, will I continue to wish it for my personal symptoms ...
Yes!

Do I long for bottles of Ativan, Valium, Librium, Paxil, ... ? No. I'd tried Prozac and felt awful. Thumbs down on many meds. Our individual bodies range so much. Impossible to turn up, get two of those twice a day, and have a life.

Hope I helped!

ROSS


Sorry to go on here, but it seems important