Our son has ADHD, OCD and a host of other issues. His psychiatrist has diagnosed him with a mood disorder and is recommending Depakote. It sounds promising in potentially helping his rages, but I'd love to hear personal experiences with this medication. I've heard weight gain is a side effect, which would be great (he could stand to gain a lot ).
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
Depakote is a standard medication for mood disorders, most noted for Bipolar disorder. Weight gain is a side effect, along with most of the normal ones like dry mouth, stomach issues, nausea, etc.
I have had many clients who have been on Depakote for a very long time. Their symptoms are well controlled with Depakote, as well as Therapy to help minimize outburts, mania, and other symptoms that may arise.
Our 5 year old grandson had been taking it for about 6 months. I don't see a HUGE change in him but hubby says he does. He also takes Ritalin. We cut the small dose pill in half and give 1/2 in the morning and the other half at noon at school. With the combination of both, I think more to because of the Ritalin we are not having to do a behavior plan at school this year.
So by using both meds we have seen a huge change in his behavior at school. At home when he's not on Ritalin, it has an extremely short half life and is out of their system entirely in about 2-3 hours, he's still temperamental and tends to have rages if he is told no to something he really wants, like playing for hours on my smart phone.
When school is out and he gets his regular Ritalin he is more manageable even when told no. But as soon as the med is out of his system it seems he's back to normal.
Again, I haven't really seen a change with only the Depakote but hubby and a lot of others have noticed a change.
I can't possibly hurt to try it under the supervision of a Psychiatrist. They are the professionals when it comes to meds for behaviors and mental issues such as ADD/ADHD and OCD. I would NEVER listen to a pediatrician or any other form of Doc when it comes to a mental health issue. IF a Psychiatrist said to do something a certain way I would think about the proposed outcome of the action then probably decide to follow their instructions while watching closely to see what changes or side effects I noticed. Being award of all the possibilities is the smart way to go about doing any new med the Doc might want to try.
The Doc should have you go do blood work every few months at first then maybe less if the med shows no physical side effects. This is to make sure it is being processed by the body the right way and getting out of the system, not building up.
I hope it works well for you. Quite a few people have their kids on it and say it really works well for them.
My daughter was on depakote - but for epilepsy! Just remember that it must be taken at regular intervals as prescribed because it does not stay in the body long term!
My son has taken it for a while for bipolar and he's a different kid! Be even tells us he's happy and he does feel like he's going to "freak out" as far as weight gain most pyschiatric meds will cause weight gain. My son has taken zyprexa for over a year and has gained a bit of weight, but he's starting to slim back down. Good luck to you and your son
My husband takes it. Yes, it makes you gain weight because it makes you hungry all the time.
