Circadian rhythm

[borgolibero]

After about 20 years of Depakin (in USA Depakote) I feel I need to sleep only about 4 in the morning. If I started sleeping at 4 I usually sleep 8 hours.

If I have to wake up before i had to use TAVOR, EN, LEXOTAN but they don't work too much. I sleep before 4 but only for 4 our.

My neurologist said the probably valproate had change Circadian rhythm. Somebody know something about it? Some other experiences?

Pardon my englis that is always bad.

[Meetz1064]

I was on Depakote for 7 years. And it messed up my circadian rhythm as well. Part of my problem as well is that I have a cyst inside the pineal gland inside my brain, but it's possible that the cyst was made worse by the Depakote.

I couldn't sleep at times, yet at other specific times, I could go to sleep for hours. Very bizarre, and it drove my entire family crazy.

Don't worry about your English, Matteo. You do well enough that we understand you.

Meetz

[epileric]

I've been on numerous anti-epileptic drugs including Depakene & my circadian rhythm is definitely faster than most. I don't know if it's because of the meds I've been on or not though.

[Bernard]

My neurologist said the probably valproate had change Circadian rhythm. Somebody know something about it? Some other experiences?

I've never heard of this being a possibility. A quick search on Google yields the following:

Lithium and valproate are commonly used mood stabilizers, but their action pathways are not clearly understood. They also suffer from multiple toxic effects that limit their utility. Elucidating their action mechanisms could lead to newer agents and better understanding of the etiopathogenesis of bipolar disorder. We have expanded the study of signaling mechanisms of lithium and valproate by using Drosophila circadian locomotor activity as a robust behavioral assay that is amenable to genetic manipulations. We demonstrate that lithium affects the circadian system of Drosophila similarly to what has been reported in the mammalian studies. We show that lithium and valproate share effects on the circadian locomotor activity of Drosophila: they lengthen the period of circadian rhythms and increase arrhythmicity. Valproate exerts these effects in a weaker fashion than does lithium. ...

Lithium- and valproate-lnduced alterations in circadian locomotor behavior in Drosophila

That's the only study I could find referencing valproate having an effect on the Circadian rhythm and it indicates that it has a weak lengthening effect for flies (Drosophila = fly).

FYI:

Most of us need about eight or so hours of sleep a night to perform optimally during the day. But scientists have found a mother and daughter who naturally snooze just six nightly hours, waking up bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

Sleep logs revealed the 44-year-old woman and her 69-year-old mother have been "natural short sleepers" for most of their lives. They both go to bed at about 10 p.m. and rise at 4 or 4:30 a.m.

While that might sound a lot like your schedule, there's a catch: Besides catching fewer Z's, the two family members are also very active. For instance, the mother travels internationally often and dances three or four times a week.

"They really have shorter sleep requirements," said study researcher Ying-Hui Fu, a professor of neurology at the University of California at San Francisco, Mission Bay.

It turns out, the pair are genetically programmed for such abbreviated sleep. They both carry a genetic mutation to the gene DEC2 that Fu and her colleagues found is at least partly responsible for the sleep pattern and probably contributes to so-called sleep homeostasis (how much sleep we need).

Scientists think sleep is controlled by at least two processes, one called circadian rhythm that sets the timing of when we go to sleep and when we wake up, turning some into night owls, for instance. The second is a homeostatic process, which regulates the length of shut-eye.

Though Fu isn't sure how many people carry such a genetic mutation, she said it's probably rare as the researchers found no other carriers in a sample of 250.

To figure out how the genetic mutation impacts sleep, Fu and her colleagues genetically engineered mice to have either two copies of the mutant gene or just one copy.

Compared with the normal mice, those with one mutant gene slept about 1.2 hours less, and mice with two mutant genes slept 2.5 hours less. The mutant mice also bounced back faster than the normal mice from sleep deprivation.

While the results, which will be detailed in the Aug. 14 issue of the journal Science, may not let the habitually late snoozers catch fewer snores, they could ultimately lead to treatment for individuals with sleep disturbances, the researchers note.
...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32406256...alth-behavior/

See also:

Time change - Problems with disruptions to sleep patterns

[Nakamova]

There's been a fair amount research on sleep patterns/insomnia, just because so many people are affected by it. People with jet lag are always trying to re-set their clocks while traveling. Some people take melatonin to help with their sleep. And there are studies that show how sensitive the body is to sunlight regulating sleep. (Oddly enough, one study found that exposing the backs of the knees to light helped re-set the body clock). Maybe your neurologist could offer a suggestion, or consult with a sleep specialist.

Best,
Nakamova