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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
depacote vs lithium
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , bipolar disorder , dementia , electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) , learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) , panic , personality disorders, phobias , post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , schizophrenia , stress , transitions, and work problems.
depacote vs lithium
by Crystal, Mar 31, 2000 12:00AM
IM on depacote 2500 mg and I seem to be not getting any better. I want to be put on lithium . Is lithium better? Im also on effexor zyprexa ativan. im very impatient now with my doctor. HE said at my next appointment if I was not better he would just start taking me off effexor im getting pretty desperate here I fill I can not keep waighting months to get better. can you please help.
Doctor's Answer
by HFHS MD - RG, Mar 31, 2000 12:00AM
You missed what you want to be better from. It is hard to say from all the medications that you are taking as to what the symptoms you are having difficult from.
But to simply answer your question regarding if lithium is better than depakote, I personally would not say a medication is better than the other solely because all medications react differently to different individuals.
Lithium has been used longer for manic-depressive type of illness. You would find more studies stating that litium is a very effective medication. But lithium has a worse side effect profile - tremors, developing metallic taste, thirst, high risk of toxicity, long term therapy may affect hyroid functioning, etc
So each medication is weighed for its risk and benefits.If Depakote was certainly not working for you, any medication that would work, would be classified as being a better medication for you.
Like most medications in psychiatry, their effectiveness needs to be patiently awaited before saying that they are not effective.
I would recommend therapy if you feel that there are issues that are not resolved by medication alone.
But to simply answer your question regarding if lithium is better than depakote, I personally would not say a medication is better than the other solely because all medications react differently to different individuals.
Lithium has been used longer for manic-depressive type of illness. You would find more studies stating that litium is a very effective medication. But lithium has a worse side effect profile - tremors, developing metallic taste, thirst, high risk of toxicity, long term therapy may affect hyroid functioning, etc
So each medication is weighed for its risk and benefits.If Depakote was certainly not working for you, any medication that would work, would be classified as being a better medication for you.
Like most medications in psychiatry, their effectiveness needs to be patiently awaited before saying that they are not effective.
I would recommend therapy if you feel that there are issues that are not resolved by medication alone.
