Migraine

First, this medication was helpful in reducing the frequency of my migraine attacks, but the side effects were just too extreme! I finally fessed up to my doctor, and we got me off this medication, and everything is much better!

First, no need to pull my hair out when I was on this medication! I was losing my hair at an alarming rate, and I didn't even realize it until I'd been off it for about three months. My hair is beginning to get a bit thicker.

Next, I have tremors, anyway, but on Depakote, they were unbearable; I couldn't even type when the Depakote was paired up with one of my new medications (not sure which one). Look at me typing away now!

Worst... yes worse than impending baldness, it caused extreme water retention. Within two weeks of stopping the Depakote, my ankles went down over an INCH! That's a lot for a small body part!

The lesson I learned:

Yes Migraine is horrible, but I don't have to be so grateful to any drug that gives me any relief that I put up with even the most horrible side effects. I felt like I would be whining if I told my doctor about all of this, but she was very sympathetic and said I shouldn't have to live with these things.

Remember the point of treatment is to give us a better quality of life. I had a pretty lousy quality of life when I was shaking so badly I couldn't feed myself and had gained over 40 pounds in two weeks and felt like I would pop because of retained water.

If your doctor makes you feel like a whiner for telling him/her about side effects, find a new doctor!

Tracey

Thank you for sharing your story!

I know that Depakote can cause weight gain, which I found odd, seeing as it's in the antiseizure catagory, and I think the rest of the antiseizures used for migraine actually say losing weight is a side effect.

I had a friend on Depakote for epilepsy and she lost hair as well.

It's definatly a good reminder that some side effects we can handle, others, no way! I went through it on a higher dose of Topamax with side effects, and had to back down to a lower dose.

And yes, if your doctor does not take side effects like that seriously - find someone who will listen to you! YOU are the one that has to take the drugs, so YOU are the one that needs to be o.k. with what goes on in your body and the side effects that may occur.

I hope you've found something that works better for you now with less side effects, and also, a better doctor! One that listens!!!

I was on depakote for almost a year. It worked well for a while but then stopped working, even after increasing the dose, and my migraines returned with a vengeance. While I was on it, I did not have much thinning of hair but I am also on thyroid medication and that may have helped. I did however, gain almost 25 pounds that year. I stayed on it because it helped with the number of migraines I had for longer than anything else I had tried at that time. I've been off it for almost a year now and I'm getting little hairs growing back in at the top of my head and around my face. So I must have had some thinning going on even if it wasn't real noticeable.

In the month that I've been off Depakote, I've dropped 30 pounds, and i've stopped taking the diuretic except around my period! If that doesn't say Depakote was the culprit, nothing does. I feel like a new person, and the new medication seems to be relatively side-effect free. (I'm taking Zonegran now.)

I came across this today and how odd, I'm going off Zonegran today due to the side effects and starting Depakote!! Our bodies while wonderous things are so unique in that what does not work for one can work for another.

My doctor did warn me about the weight gain, hair lose and tremors, also about liver problems. So we'll see.

Good luck Shaliali on the Zonegran, I do hope it helps you and you don't have side effects from it, or you can stay on it long enough to see if they go away.

Take care.

Cindy

Oh, you sound like me when I tried depakote. It was not a pleasant experience.

ah, depakote *shudders*

I think I only made it through 2 pills when I got severly depressed - and on Christmas too! One more day and disasterous things might have happened... Luckily I met you guys!

I reported it to the FDA, it was so horrid.

Some people do so well on things that I do so horribly with though.

Good luck everyone on thier new meds.

Tracey!

I've missed you and wondered how you were doing.

Thanks for sharing AND for making your ending point about doctors. Good doctors will indeed listen and make decisions WITH you, not FOR you.

Zonegran has been a great med for me. Hope it does as well for you.