My Medication and Constant Sleepiness. How Annoying!

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This has been such an odd weekend sleep wise. Actually spent more time sleeping than awake. Here is roughly how much I slept (as far as I can remember)...

Friday:
6pm - 7:30pm (pizza came in)
9pm - 11pm (food coma nap)
1am - 7am (stupid phone rang)

Saterday:
9:30am - 12:30pm (just couldn't stay awake after that phone call)
2:30pm - 7 pm (lunch killed me)
1:30am - 10 am

Sunday:
12:30pm - 5pm (lunch killed me again)
Well been awake since.. Probably will go to bet around 12:30-1am...

So that's about 31 hours of sleep in roughly 48 hours! No wonder I can't get anything done at home. From what I read, lots of people taking Depakote are having similar problems. It essentially feels like a almost constant "post thanksgiving dinner food drowsiness". And this makes it real hard to focus at times.

My doctor's oppinion is that it might be related to poor sleep due to me comming off of my other medication (Lexapro). But considering I am not down to less than 1mg/day (compared to 20mg/day initially). I think this medication should be mostly out of my system by now. Sometimes, with some online research, I feel like I know more about my condition and the medication I am taking than my doctor knows. I can understand this from a general practitioner since they can't know everything on every topic. But with a specialist, you'd think they would keep up on those things and not only take that the pharmaceutical companies feed them for granted.

So what to do? Well, one thing is that I am taking my Depakote in the morning (which is generally more convenient than the evening, or at least fits better as part of my routine). So if I assume the sleepy effects are transient (worst when my blood levels peak) it might make more sense to take it in the evening. I've also read that there are a few natural supplements which may help with the sleepiness and the mood swings also. I'll have to re-read the articles but the idea is that some of the imbalance in the first place may be partially due to my body not being able to use certain proteins, aminos and nutrients as efficiently as the average person and therefore increasing the daily intake of these nutrients may help swing the balance favorably.

Another solution for the sleepiness, from a pharmaceutical point of view is a medication called Provigil. It is generally prescribed for people who have sleep disorders which causes them to have uncontrolled sleepiness (such as narcolepsy). From what I read, the med does seem to have some benefits. But also some drawbacks such as massive headaches. So it is an option to consider but I think I want to try the natural path first.

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