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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Anyone tried Depakote?
        
(Message started by: sioux-z on Oct 26^th, 2004, 12:01pm)

Title: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by sioux-z on Oct 26^th, 2004, 12:01pm

Has anyone tried Depakote (valproic acid). I think it is a preventative? If it worked for you how long did it take to see an effect? Were there any bad side effects?

I took it for the first time last night at bedtime and woke up 2 hours later with a CH. I took an Imitrex injection and it was like the first time I used Imitrex. The side effects were really strong and lasted longer than usual. Maybe I can use less Imitrex now? I have been considering trying the Imitrex tip because lately I have been having the CH's more frequently and I know I can only have 2 injections in 24 hours.

Thanks!

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by unsolved1 on Oct 26^th, 2004, 4:05pm

Depakote is a common drug prescribed to cluster patients. Depakote is used to treat various types of seizure disorders, to prevent migraine headaches, and to control mania associated with bipolar disorder. (http://www.drugs.com/depakote.html)
Side effects I had while on 1750mg was tremors (shakey hands), hair loss, feelings of confusion. I quit taking that drug about 2 1/2 yrs ago. I did nothing for my CH.
If it is going to help you ... I'd say it would take anywhere from 2 - 6 weeks to kick in.

Unsolved

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by labantayo on Oct 26^th, 2004, 4:44pm

when i was first diagnosed with ch's, i was given depakote with prednisone. my ch's got worse after i started taking them. i dont know if it was the said drugs, or my cycle just happened to be really bad. i havent used them since then.

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by jeffhall on Oct 27^th, 2004, 12:32am

My original general practice doctor prescribed (and seemed devoted to) Depakote.

It did absolutely nothing for me.

I spent 4 weeks in agony waiting for it to "kick in".

Ugg....what a month

I am now devoted to: Neurontin, Cafergot, and oddly enough Excidrin Migraine

Just my thoughts...

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by sioux-z on Oct 27^th, 2004, 9:42am

Thanks guys! I found another post about it also from a few months ago and the consensus was it didn't work for anyone. I have an appointment with my Neuro next Mon. so I'll keep using it at least until then. I think I'm going to try adding Melatonin tonight. I've read that it has worked for some people and it may also lessen the dosage you need of other meds- which is good since everyone thinks my Verapamil dose is way too low also- 80mg x 2 per day. No CH last night though so I'm happy today!

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by vig on Oct 27^th, 2004, 9:49am

Come on now, it had to work for someone...

My neuro told me he had treated 'hundreds of cluster patients' with it.

Of course, I didn't think he had treated them 'well', and I never even bothered to fill the prescription. :-/

Anybody?

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by miapet on Oct 27^th, 2004, 5:59pm

D tried it a long time ago . . it didn't help . . .Depakote works on the frontal lobe, so it makes sense, to me, that it wouldn't do jack for CH.
*positive light and energy*
miapet

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by chris on Oct 28^th, 2004, 3:03am

Have been chronic for 8 years and it worked for me for about 2 years. Then went to other shit for a while, came back and tried it 5 years later and nothing. It is a pretty popular choice among Neuros though. It should take about 2 or 3 weeks to get benifits if any. After that try something else. Verapamil or lithium or both as a combo. Or Neurontin . I have bounced back and forth between all of these over the years with success with all of these, at different times. You got to be a test dummie for a little while to find out what works for you.

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by Gator on Oct 28^th, 2004, 4:48pm

I tried it. Got up to 1500mg and it did nothing for me, so the neuro pulled me off it.

Gator

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by IndianaJohn on Oct 29^th, 2004, 4:12pm

I tried depakote once. It made my CH much worse in frequency and severity. I personally would never take it again, but hey, if it works for you - great.

John

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by EvertBoer on Oct 29^th, 2004, 6:40pm

My last cycle that lasted 7 months, I tried Depakote for the first time. The dosage was about 500 MG twice a day. I can't say it helped, since I was getting hit all the time anyways, although since I was able to abort almost all of them with just oxygen, maybe it did. I did notice that I did not get my regular migraines while I was taking them.

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by kcorrigan on Nov 2^nd, 2004, 5:59pm

Ugh... I'm just reading all of these posts. The neuro I went to see today put me on this and something else (some kind of anti-histamine I think - they won't have it in until tomorrow).

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to try this and see. So much for my couple of PF days. They're back and with a vengeance!

Oh, anyone have any tips for requesting a leave of absence? I have worked 3 days in the past 2 1/2 weeks. There's no way that I'm stressing myself out about going in anymore until this cycle is over - if it ever ends.

Thanks. With love,

K

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by eyhavhedaches on Nov 3^rd, 2004, 11:11am

I am currently prescribed depakote. I have been taking it for three years now. It has worked the best for me but only with trial and error. I use depakote as a preventative, along with verapimil also a preventative and I also use Imitrex injections for the ones I can't control. This regimen has worked great and then other times was not quite effective but managed to make it more berable.

It is deffinately worth a try but don't expect immediate results, you and your docter have to experiment with the dosage before you will find whats right for you. I started at a very low dosage 500 mg a day and it wasn't enough. After trying differant doses and differant ways of taking the medicine we have found a happy medium where the drug is actually effective enough to lessen the frequency and severity of the attacks. However, I do not believe that it is primarily related to just this one medication.

As I stated before I also take verapimil. This medication has also given me respected results and again had to experiment with just how the medicine was best used to treat my CH.

Depakote I take 1500 mg a day only during my cycle, when I start to feel my cycle comming on I begin my regular doses of depakote, however I never start out dosing at 1500 mg. I start out with 500 mg first week, than 750 mg the next week and finally 1000 by the third week.

Now my verapimil, that was a completely differant kind of drug and is a little bit more dangerous to play around with than depakote. Verapimil is a med used to treat blood pressure but is also a common CH Preventative treatment.
It is noted that at the beggining of your CH or a short time before the sufferer experiances a spike in their blood pressure and this must be true because when I was taking the verapimil twice a day it was ineffective, however taking the Verapimil at first sign of a CH was twice as effective than taking twice a day. It does not always work but I can manage to stear away from many of my headaches by taking the med this way. The only down side to this is if your headache returned 2 or three hours later you would not beable to dose again for 9 or 10 hours. As always do not change how you take your meds without talking to your docter, everything I have tried with my meds has been while under a physicians care. The best defense against CH is getting a docter who is willing to let you help in your own care. Get a docter who listens and will help you try differant things. Constantly give advice to your docter, alot times they won't try it if you don't suggest it.
Peace

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by Magick on Nov 6^th, 2004, 12:31pm

Ben on it for a few weeks now. Nothing yet. Neuro is pulling me off the verap as well. I have o2 and trex for abortives. I'm still getting hit 4-5 times a night with 7-9 kippers. I can abort 3 out of 4 of them. :-[

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by Magick on Nov 8^th, 2004, 9:26pm

My neuro has me on Depakote. I just went to 1500 a day today. I’m tapering off of verap because after ramping up to 360 it had no effect whatsoever. (But I wonder because so many others go to much higher levels) Prednisone worked great but you can’t stay on that and must taper off of it witch means it only works for a short time and is used mostly during build up of another drug like verap for relief until the other drugs level is up. Also tried despramine but that did nothing but make me ill. So far for me no preventive medications has worked except Prednisone. I use Melatonin but that does not stop attacks during sleep. It does however help me fell more rested after short amounts of sleep. So I don’t think it’s a matter of Serotonin levels for me but maybe Erythrocyte choline concentrations. (Lithium administration would fix that but my neuro wants to try the Depakote first. Why do neuros love this stuff so much?) ::)

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by Melissa on Nov 9^th, 2004, 11:52am

I have used Depakote while in cycle and it cuts my CH attack frequency in half. The best dosage FOR ME is the 250mg SR. Anything higher makes my brain feel like it's sizzling.

mel

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by sioux-z on Nov 9^th, 2004, 2:43pm

Thanks everyone for your input! It has been almost 2 weeks since my last CH. I started depakote on Oct. 26 and had a CH that night. The next day I decided to try Melatonin 9mg along with the depakote. I haven't had a CH since! I had my first Neuro appt. this cycle on Nov. 1. He thought that the Melatonin was a waste of time and wanted me to stop taking that and the Verapamil that wasn't doing any good this cycle anyway. I was scared but I did what he said and so far so good. Only bad thing- I'm STARVING- I have gained 5 pounds in 2 weeks. Oh well- it's better than the headaches. I know my Neuro doesn't agree but maybe the combination of Melatonin and Depakote was key. I have heard that it takes awhile to see a result from Depakote- one day? I was having CH's every night.

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by Melissa on Nov 9^th, 2004, 10:17pm

sioux-z, when did your cycle begin? I am curious to know how long you have been having ch's before you went pain free. Also, yes, it does take awhile for the depakote to kick in, I know it took about 3-4 days to kick in for me.

mel

Title: Re: Anyone tried Depakote?
Post by Magick on Nov 10^th, 2004, 3:46am

Damm wish this was the case for me. I'm still getting hit 3-4 times a night.

Depakote :1500mg's a day
Verapamill: 360 and tapering off
Melatonin: 9mg's and hour before bed and another 3mg's when my head hits the pillow.

So far Prednisone is the only thing that has had any effect at all. I did a 60mg taper at 3 days per dose. 60, 50, 40, etc.

Desipramine: 150 mg's a day. This did cut the hits down to one a night like the prednisone. But the one attack that night was ALWAYS a 9 or 10 and lasted 1 1/2 hrs. Also had every side effect listed. NEVER AGAIN! :-[