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Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder. Taking Depakote Pill, Repsiridone Pill And Oxcarbazepine. Is This Safe?
my 22 year old son was dignosed with bi-polar , he has been taking depokote(500mg) and risperidone(2mg) twice a day. He and I were concerned with the side effects of the depokote, so he has been taking only 1 pill a day the last week, til we could see the doctor. We saw the doc today and asked if she could take him completely of the depokote and give him a different med , she instead said stay on the depokote once a day and added a third medication called oxcarbazepine(150mg)(generic form of trileptal) Now he has 3 medications too take however we are concerned this is too many, the pharmacist also had so concerns, when we picked up the med and told us too carefully watch out for side effects of taking all three. Is it common to take soo much medication for bi-polar?
posted on
Sun, 29 Sep 2013
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Mon, 30 Sep 2013
Answered on
Mon, 30 Sep 2013
Last reviewed on
The standard evidence based drug treatment of bipolar disorder is as follows:
1. In acute phase of mania, risperidone has role. this should be stopped roughly in 2-3 months of acute phase
2. Mood stabiliser (lithium or valproate or carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine or lamotrigine) need to be continued for long time, usually years together to prevent future episodes
3. On should use one mood stabiliser at one time at adequate maximum tolerable doses.
4. Combining multiple mood stabiliser in low doses is not benefitial in long run. And add on to the side effects
1. In acute phase of mania, risperidone has role. this should be stopped roughly in 2-3 months of acute phase
2. Mood stabiliser (lithium or valproate or carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine or lamotrigine) need to be continued for long time, usually years together to prevent future episodes
3. On should use one mood stabiliser at one time at adequate maximum tolerable doses.
4. Combining multiple mood stabiliser in low doses is not benefitial in long run. And add on to the side effects
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