depakote and racing thoughts/heart pounding?

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flats88

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i haven't found much on this. has anyone experienced thought racing/heart pounding while increasing depakote? it's been about three nights now that it seems to get worse around bedtime: my chest feels very tight like i'm going to have a panic attack or like i can't get enough air, and i can feel my heart racing and my thoughts are so fast i can't keep up with them. i thought it was an oncoming panic attack the first night, but then it happened the next two nights. plus it's strange that my heart rate just won't slow down- i even tried breathing into a trusty paper bag last night.

I don't seem to fall asleep until 5 or 6 am and even then it's just restless sleep.

[dosage change: depakote- 2,000mg from 1,000mg // keppra gone down from what it used to be, 3500mg to 1500mg. This is the second round of adjustments... The first round had me extremely dopey/non-functional. Dopey-ness has settled but now this.]

My neuro is out of town this week so I'm waiting to hear back from his partner instead, which could take a while. Would appreciate your :twocents:
 
flats88

I would be looking for my doctor, and think about changing. A racing/pounding hearth is not to be taken lightly I would mention the sleep pattern as well.
 
I had this effect (racing and pounding heart, couldn't calm my mind down when trying to sleep, etc.) when I was on Keppra and my doctor and I attempted to increase my dose. I have no problems with my heart, BP or anything of that nature but just the same the dose was immediately reduced back to where I wasn't having those effects.
 
thank you, at least good to know someone else had that side effect.

i just heard from the on-call dr. and he was kind of a a jerk.. ugh.

i'm so exasperated at this point because i had a video eeg several weeks ago, which prompted the increase in depakote to begin with as well as change in keppra. weeks of side effect hell. so little sleep... anxiety so high :( i haven't been through this in years so i guess i just forgot how much it can suck.
 
Hmmm now that you mention it...I think this might be what's going on with me...when I had my Depakote increased from 1,000mg to 1,500mg I started to notice feeling more anxious/disoriented and during exercise it got worse...so worse one night I thought I was going to have a heart attack...my heart was pounding like a machine gun I thought it was going to explode!!! Along with that I got extremely cold and sweaty and my vision started getting dark like I was going to faint...I was extremely panicked!!! I thought I was going to puke my heart out and shit all my guts out!!! My mind was going so fast I thought my head would spontaneously combust!!! Then I had this terrible tremor like shakiness going on and sitting down and trying to breathe slowly didn't help...in fact it got worse!!! I felt like I had entered into some hellish nightmare where I was being tormented by my own body...I felt so twitchy like I was mutating into an electric eel...called 911 and they took me in an ambulance...sent me home with Ativan saying I was just having ("just having"...I swear to God these people are so insensitive/clueless sometimes...not to mention the ER staff were a bunch of fucktards...in fact I got more help from a freakin security guard than I did them lol! anyways) an anxiety/panic attack of some kind...been taking it ever since...it's been helping but the increase in my Depakote was for my bipolar...not my Epilepsy...my neurologist said at 1,000mg my levels were already "therapeutic"...for seizures :rolleyes:
 
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I guess for some it's harder to level off/adjust...but there are many factors that contribute to this such as environment, stress, genetics, etc....it's better to just hang in there and let it pass...believe in yourself even though it's easier said than done...I still get "attacks" from time to time...but who doesn't? It just means you're human... BREATHE
 
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