My doctor mentioned depakote, trazodone, and gabapentin/neurontin. Out of these three which one will cause the least cognitive side effects? Which one is best for schizoaffective disorder? Thank you.
Not one of the three but lamotrigine has been good for me with no real side effects other than a bit of drowsiness.
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My experiences with depakote have been very positive. It doesn’t zonk you out or make you feel kinda numb like the gabapentin and neurontin do (at least for me). The only possible side effect for me was vomiting, which I eventually got at 1250mg. He dropped it to 1000 mg and the vomiting went away.
No negative side effects from depakote for me other than the vomiting though.
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I take lithium, which has been an amazing lifesaver for me.
Trazodone is an odd one to recommend - it’s traditionally an antidepressant and a sleep aid.
I take a low dose of Gabapentin for anxiety and it helps with that, not sure about mood though, as lithium does most of the stabilization for me. It’s not FDA approved for either anxiety or mood stablization,
lamictal/lamotigrine is the most optimal one out there, as it’s less sedating than depakote and has the least amount of side effects out of all of them.
Just my two cents. I’ve taken a lot of mood stabilizers.
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I too am on lithium, 900mg a day. It’s been seeming to work really wall for my mood swings. Before lithium I was on Lamictal and it didn’t seem to help as much but I also didn’t get any side effects from it either.
Sorry, I meant Topamax, not trazodone!
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I have sza and I think I have need of a mood stabiliser too bcuz my two antipsychotic meds aren’t completely helping with my mood swings. Most of the time they are ok but sometimes when I relapse like this past month I need mood stabiliser too. Been very depressed and had mixed hypomania too.
Lamictal has worked for me for 8 years. Couples well with paliperidone in my opinion as well too.