Depakote destroyed my health. I stopped taking it seven years ago and have permanent liver and kidney damage. I have to take a handful of supplements every day to get the vitamins my damged digestive tract can barely absorb now. I suffer from deficiency diseases of vitamin B and C regularly if I do not take all those supplements, which are costly. Most of all, on depakote, I gained 50 pounds within 6 months. I became bed ridden because I could not stay awake. I slept through 2 years of my life on depakote and nearly lost my career and marriage because of it. I don't care what they say. YOU CANNOT control your weight on depakote. When I took it for my severe bipolar disorder, I cut down to 400 calories a day, sometimes 200. I still gained weight. Then I added two hours of exercise a day while going all day on 200 calories. I still gained weight. Finally, as I accepted my newly diminished life, and my career tanked, and my husband and I separated, I went to the gym to try to exercise. after an hour, I went home and bent down to tie my shoe.....and pop! I felt something "pop" in my head, and I got an excruciating headache that did not let up for two months. I vomited at least 10 times a day for those months....and did not lose weight....even though I had not keept down much food at all. During those months, I found out, my liver and kidneys were near failure stage from the depakote. I was dying. Well, I took that toxic depakote and threw it in the garbage. I am grateful to be here today. After I got rid of it, I began improving. The symptoms slowly but surely went away. I got my marriage back. I got my career back on track. This is because I was able to get out of bed, finally. Most interesting to me was the fact that once the depakote was out of my system, I experienced a rapid weight loss...every other day, the scale needle went down and down and down. Fifty pounds melted off effortlessly, even though I was eating three times what I had been. Don't ever let some smug doctor tell you you're wrong about side effects and that scary problems are nothing to worry about. If your gut tells you that something is terribly wrong, please have the courage to stand up for yourself. Don't just blindly trust the drug or the doctor with your health. I did, and it almost cost me my life. If you take this drug, watch your health carefully from DAY ONE. Sorry this is so long, but I never want anyone to go through what I went through. For me, depakote is poison. There are plenty other meds out there that are much more effective and safe than depakote. Check those out before you gamble your health.
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