• Effectiveness

  None (for headaches)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 500 mg Daily

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Can't tell (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 2000 mg Daily

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for epilepsy)
• Effectiveness

  Major (for migraine headaches)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (loss of manual dexterity, unintentional weight loss, hair loss, excessive daytime sleepiness (somnolence), loss of balance, decreased appetite)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Very hard to take

Dosage: 500 mg Daily

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (weight gain)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 125 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: The medication worked well but the weight gain was not good for me so if you have a weight problem to the heavy side you need to be very cause with how you take this and how your diet is monitored.

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for bipolar disorder)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 500 mg Daily

• Effectiveness

  Slight (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (fatigue, poor working memory)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Very hard to take

Dosage: 500 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: always keep in mind that side effects may not be worse then the condition.

• Effectiveness

  Major (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Mild (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Advice & Tips: 1. I manage it daily by always taking my medication and doing what the doctor says. 2. I don't know of any. 3. It isn't really a big set back although it is something that you have to remember.

• Effectiveness

  Major (for bipolar II disorder)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Somewhat hard to take

Dosage: 250 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: Not a great drug. Had major weight gain, and fuzzy and slow thinking. But, it gets the job done, and better than being manic/depressed. Also liver testing every couple months was also a pain.

Cost: $50-99 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Slight (for migraine)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 500 mg Daily

• Effectiveness

  None (for Tourette syndrome)
• Side effects

  Mild (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 500 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: MISDIAGNOSED WITH TOURETTE SYNDROME BY AN RXHAPPY DOCTOR. Had an EEG showing Temporal Lobe Epileptogenesis in Nov. 2009 but due to insurance troubles couldn't get a second test done until July 2011, which came back normal. They think my Epilepsy might have gone away on its own by then, but I was not prescribed Depakote for Epilepsy anyway. It didn't make me feel BAD like most of my other medications, but it did nothing for the twitches either. But I stayed on it for quite some time anyway only because my doctor told me I had to take it with ice cream, haha.

Cost: < $25 monthly