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Depakote, Behaviors, and personality

Mon, 02/11/2008 - 19:22
My 7 year old daughter was diagnosed with Epilepsy a year ago this coming April.  She has been on Depakote since the beginning.  It seems to be doing very well at controlling the seizures, but she has become a whole different child.  It breaks my heart, and every day seems to get a little bit worse.  She is regressing academicaly, socially, and emotionally.  Her neuro seems to think it is all "behavior issues".  He doesn't want to change the meds but has mentioned it a couple of times.  He seems to think she will be like this no matter what we put her on.  I want my little girl back.  Anybody else struggling with this?

Comments

Re: Depakote, Behaviors, and personality

Submitted by aramey on Wed, 2009-07-22 - 02:02
I am 20 and I am on Lamictal, Tegratol and Epilim (the Australian version of Depakote) and I experience mild depression, memory loss, exhaustion and loss of concentration and motivation.  I have been seisure free for almost a year now but have recently decided that i cannot live like this any longer and I am going to try and lower/change my medication.  I am scared to death about having more seisures but it's something I need to do for my future.

Re: Depakote, Behaviors, and personality

Submitted by sigep1982 on Sat, 2008-03-08 - 15:57

nytasha,

When I started High School (I graduated in 2000) I was on depakote. It was horrible. I was getting failing grades. My parents thought it was because I was haning out with the "bad" crowd... so much so they sent me to a private catholic school (a 35 mile commute).

I was so frustrated because I was a smart kid. I did 3rd grade math and english in the second grade. I skipped 5th grade and now I didnt know what was happening. So junior year (what I knew colleges looked at) I just stopped taking my meds. And suddenly I passed all my classes with A's!

I came clean and told my parents and doctor that I wanted off the medication so I could get into college. They agreed, and I was fine for a while.

 Basically Depakoe made me stupid, couldnt concentrate, I forgot what someone told me 5 seconds after they said it, and I gained 60+ pounds (that I lost the moment I stopped the meds).

 Hope this helps.

nytasha,

When I started High School (I graduated in 2000) I was on depakote. It was horrible. I was getting failing grades. My parents thought it was because I was haning out with the "bad" crowd... so much so they sent me to a private catholic school (a 35 mile commute).

I was so frustrated because I was a smart kid. I did 3rd grade math and english in the second grade. I skipped 5th grade and now I didnt know what was happening. So junior year (what I knew colleges looked at) I just stopped taking my meds. And suddenly I passed all my classes with A's!

I came clean and told my parents and doctor that I wanted off the medication so I could get into college. They agreed, and I was fine for a while.

 Basically Depakoe made me stupid, couldnt concentrate, I forgot what someone told me 5 seconds after they said it, and I gained 60+ pounds (that I lost the moment I stopped the meds).

 Hope this helps.

Re: Depakote, Behaviors, and personality

Submitted by Dragool on Sat, 2008-03-08 - 16:16
Hey sigep1982, Thanks for posting that! I was failing a bunch of classes in college and am happy to know that it was the Depakote that did it to me and not myself. I'm now off of Depakote and am much happier and passing all of my classes! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. Lindsay

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