i am a 16 year old girl and my doctor says i have bipolar and i have been on all kinds of meds and i am on one called risperdal right now and i looked it up on the web and it said it is used for somthing else and i was wonderin if it is really used for bipolar. i was also on a med called depakote and i was on it for about 5 months and i was 100 pounds when i first started it and now im like 130 and i was wonering could depikote have made me gained weight i rarley ate when i was on it i was taking zypreixa with the depikot do you think that could of had somthing to do woth it? what exactly is bipolar? i heard that it was people with depreshin but i am not depressed .i was just wonderin if they could have said i have bipolar for another reason because i do get in alot of troulbe and i am violent. thanks for you help

sincerly
lindsey

Hi Lindsey
Read some more about subtle forms of bipolar disorder on  my site; I hope you'll find it helpful, and I think it will address most of your questions except the risperidone thing.  Zyprexa and Depakote are both associated with weight gain all right.  Risperidone much less so.  There are lots of other alternatives.  Generally it is reasonable to hope for full or nearly full symptom control and no or few side effects.  Keep teaching yourself.  

Dr. Phelps