Our daughter has Absence Seizures. She has been taking this for a few months now. She takes the sprinkle capsule form of it. She takes 250mg in the am, 375mg in the afternoon and 375mg at night. We just upped her afternoon dose today. We have only seen 1 side effect and that is hunger. She is hungry all the time. We try to keep carrot stick, bananas, pretzels etc.. for her to snack on. I hope you have success with the medicine.

I have Partial Complex Seizures. Before I had Brain Surgey - Partisl Complex Seizures (Left Temporal Lobectomy) I took 3500 mg. a day ( 5 capsules 3 times a day back in the 80\'s. Bloatness( made me heavy) and I also was very constipated.

I have been on Depakote since October. It also got rid of my emigrane headaches, I was having such bad headaches on a daily basis, not anymore. I take a 1000mg a day, I take the ER so I only have to take it once a day at night. I also take 100 mg of topamax. I have gained weight though, I don't eat much. It is also genaric now, so if you are just starting maybe try that first, it is much cheaper.

I'm just getting ready to begin depakote myself tomorrow. after years of taking tegretol alone, which didn't seem to control my seizures very well, my doctor put me on lyrica in addition (been on it for about a lil' over a year now)... and gave me topamax for migraines in addition. well now my seizures have been coming more frequently - averaging about 1-2 a week (not much, but when you have them only 1-2 a month previously) the doctor has now decided to put me on depakote in addition to the other 3 meds! Isn't there a thing as being over-medicated?

Then again, another scary thing was when the doctor said he was going to perscribe it for me, he asked "there's no chance of you becoming pregnant is there?" because apparently the side-affects of this stuff can really affect pregnancies more than the other 3 meds... so that is just a bit scary. I guess it's just me over-reacting I hope.

i take depakote 500mg once in the morning and one at nite i have trouble with my balance and i get moody

hmm something weird I just discovered today, the 3 meds I'm already on (Tegretol, Lyrica & Topomax) can cause problems in your joints - arthritis & bone aches; and the Depakote can be an activator of those problems... which would explain why for the past 2 days, especially today, my lower back & my hips are absolutely killing me!! I am soooo sore, it hurts like crazy to move at all... sit, stand, or even lay down!! OOOOOOWWWW!!! I called the dr. to find out if this was a "normal" side-effect, but he wasn't in, so I got all that other info. from my pharmacist. Other than that, I just feel incredibly thirsty non-stop.

I've been on depakote for around 12 years or so. It works well for my epilepsy and evens out the mania in my bioplar disorder (unfortunately not the depression). I've been on it so long that I'm not wholly sure what are side effects or just the way I am. But I have gained wieght and it's harder to get the weight off. I have trouble sleeping and waking up once I've fallen asleep and am always tired; but I can't be sure that has to do with the meds. j

It's interesting dolphin67 mentions balance problems. Now that I think of it my balance is horrible but back before I started the depakote I was quite agile.

I took sprinkles then switched to depakote ER 1500mg/day (750 am/pm), and I was controlled on it for 12 yrs, really no side effects, i did gain weight...but was also a hormonal teen so who knows if that had something to do with it, no real moodiness...seizure free until this summer when I began the transition to Lamictal...I switched for the sole purpose of lower pregnancy risks...any side effects with depakote are definitely outweighed by the benefits...i hope you have success with this medication as I did...