Has anyone taken or had any success with Depakote?
My surgeon just prescribed 500mg twice a day and I'm not sure what to expect at all!
Hi Cassie,
I used to sell pharmaceuticals for about 20 years and Depakote was one of the competitors to a drug for schizophrenia and bipolar and refractory depression that I used to sell against (I used to sell Abilify). I don't remember a whole lot about Depakote (because the last 3 years before developing TN pain due to a jaw surgery, I was selling biologic oncology meds for colon cancer, head and neck cancer and leukemia) except people complained of weight gain and drowsiness while on Depakote. But many drugs are used "off label" for many other disease states that the FDA didn't indicate their use for. For instance, Neurontin, or the generic name is gabapentin, is used for many disease states and it is not indicated by the FDA for these uses but that doesn't mean it's not useful in those other conditions. In fact, Pfizer got sued millions over this very thing. Their reps were promoting Neurontin for off-label uses but there were studies in those uses but not yet indicated by the FDA. Many times it's just too expensive for the drug company to go after numerous indications for their drugs and people already complain about the cost of drugs/meds. The FDA charges drug manufacturers a huge amount of money just to go before the approval board to get the drugs approved for one or two indications or uses. Then the drug company has to recoop the costs of all of the clinical trials required by the FDA to prove that the drug works in "humans", not just animals. So, Depakote could very well be useful in Trigeminal Neuralgia/neuropathy but I've never had a doctor mention it to me yet for me to try. I hope it works well for you. I assume you have read up on it already. Don't get too scared by all of the mice type (fine print) in the package inserts. When patients come in during a clinical trial and if they have a headache that day , they have to report it whether the drug was the cause of it or not and that information gets put in the package insert of that drug product. I always look at the PI (package insert) to see if the side effect listed is almost double or more than placebo. If it is, I know I can expect to see that side effect in me, most likely. If weight gain was 1% in the placebo group but even a low 7% in the Depakote group, I know I can expect to see weight gain. I remember once, my neurologist gave me a med for migraine prophylaxis. Kidney stones only happened 5% in the active drug group and 1% in the placebo group. I have never had a kidney stone in my life and guess who had 4 at the same time! Yep, me! Yes, I ended up in the hospital with incredible pain. I do believe kidney stones are worse than childbirth. But, keep me posted on if Depakote works for you. Maybe it can help some of the rest of us. Thanks for letting us know. Good luck.
Tinkerbell
So far, the worst side effects have been stomach related.
It's very painful and crampy!
Other than that, there is some mild sleepiness and stupidness (if yaknow what I mean)
No notable difference in pain yet, but I've only been taking it for two days.
Aside from some rolling waves of breakthrough pain, the 1000mg depakote ER seems to be working.
I have my days, of course, but I can definitely say this is manageable. I have an appointment with my surgeon on August 15th during which I intend to ask about meds for breakthrough pain, but I'm doing pretty ok.
Cassie,
I’m encouraged by your results. do let us know how things go. obviously we Type 2 patients are always looking for solutions or even help for the breakthrough pain.
Well....I had to stop the depakote because it caused high blood pressure. This is disheartening because it seemed to help with the pain, but I can't risk the high blood pressure.
My neurologist started me on 200mg Tegretol. Is anyone else taking this for TN Type II? I've taken it before for other reasons, but I'm curious as to what others have experienced.
Thanks!
:D
yes, I’d like to know about ATN experience with Tegretol. also, has anyone heard of Keppra for TN or ATN?