Dumb As A Mud Fence...

So the Depakote Definitely didn't work...In the 2 months I was on it I lost 1/4 of my hair, got hemorrhoids, put on 25-30 pounds, couldn't stop sleeping, had worsening heart palpitations, (never good for someone who already has congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy) and was Still a moody mess. I slashed myself with a dirty razor blade and got an infection and started drinking again. I craved carbs and sweets and was binge eating, especially late at night.
I always try to be an informed patient, and when I made the decision to go back into counseling and back on medication for my mental illness, I found a website that to me is Mecca for lunatics. http://www.crazymeds.org/
I did a great deal of research there and went to my psychiatrist and approached her about Topamax...I had my arguments all prepared only to find that she agreed with me completely, (something doctors rarely do, or at least I have rarely had good doctors that treated their patients like they had a brain in their heads at all). She said she likes Topamax and prescribes it regularly and felt I was a very good candidate for it.

I left the office on this med regimen:
50 mg Topomax / 50 mg Zoloft / 300-500 mg Seroquel / 500 mg Depakote x 3 days
50 mg Topamax / 500 mg Depakote / 300-500 mg Seroquel x 4 days
100 mg Topamax / 500 mg Depakote / 300-500 mg Seroquel X 7 days
150 mg Topamax / 500 mg Depakote / 300-500 mg Seroquel X 7 days

I am supposed to return to the office during the last week of the regimen to re-evaluate and work on removing the Depakote and replacing it with something else while upping the Topamax, in order to get the weight issue under control.
Now I knew all about the side effects, having done my copious research...HOWEVER I did not know I would get lost in Wal-Mart!! I did not know I would lose complete track of time...I did not know that when my daughter asked me to spell characteristic for her while she was doing her 4th grade english homework it would take me 2 minutes and 5 tries to do it...I never expected to have to run "spell check" on this blog!! I can count on one hand how many times I have used spell check in 30 yrs!! It is all well and good to know a thing in the abstract and quite another to experience it first hand...
Then there is the experience of trying to talk anytime in the first 3 hrs after you've taken your Topamax/Seroquel cocktail...."No Occiffur...I..thswear imm nut dwunk...tsee...Imm wallkeeng finnuh...iyuh..justht..cannt..talk..." as you wander past the police benevolent association fundraisers standing outside Target.
Although, I am the happiest dumb mud fence I could have ever conceived of being, no homicidal rages, urges to bury perfect strangers in the backyard, driving need to demasculinate my husband on an hourly basis...So I know that the medication is doing what it is supposed to do...And the dumbing down is temporary...Or so I'm told...But at this rate...Soon...I'll be too intellectually challenged to care!!