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Depakote from Hell

Thu, 04/09/2015 - 07:17

Topic: Medication Issues

~~
Thank the Good God that the internet exists today and people can help each other by sharing experiences. Can you imagine what parents a couple of decades ago had to face without this kind of sharing?

My son was on Depakote from 8 yrs old to 13. It solved his absence seizures immediately, and we were very relieved at the time. Little did we know that this drug from hell was at the same time poisoning his mind and personality. He is now off it for a month, much better but not there yet given the years he was on it, and we are trying to see how to help him recover. He had suicidal thoughts from the begining, aggression, agitation, thought we hated him and he hated us, very low self esteem, problems with school work, concentration, weight gain, tremors, increased thyroid TSH and more. If we had known, we would defiinitely prefer the absence seizures, at least we would be dealing with a normal person.

It is ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING to me that the our doctor and most doctors just do not accept what parents say. The usual trick response is that 'but it stabilizes mood' or at the end, 'lets check ammonia', which is the signal to 'they are on to us, lets get him off now before this gets out of hand'.. Now, send him to the psych docs for then next cohort of drugs, how about some Risperdal?

AS PARENTS it is our ethical responsiblity to share our experiences and help protect other parents and children. Spread the good karma.

Be warned of the side effects of a drug that solved absence immediately, but at what cost?

Comments

I understand your concern

Submitted by just_joe on Thu, 2015-04-09 - 10:41

I understand your concern anad do know that all aed's have side effects. I also know that those aed's do work for many people. Every time a parent picks up a perscriptin the pharmacist gives them a paper which tells about the medicine. It also has th side effects. It takes the body time to get used to the medication and that time period would be about 2-4 weeks. If he is still having some of those side effects then you need to tell the neurologist.I know this because I have been in studies for new medications. Yup drug studies. Now in those studies we are given forms to fill out along with information we are to list. That paper is where we put down anything that was different that day. The list was used to come up with the side effects. Now I also know that side effects do happen. The number of people that get those side effects are about 5-8%. You can read referals or complaints of all kinds of medications. You will see more complaints on meds. Now if you go by those complaints only then you are going by what 5-8% of the people taking it. SO look at the inforamtion and thinkl about the 92-95% of the people taking the medication and it is working well for them. I was put on Keppra and yes I read some of the posts. I also have been with the same group of neurologists since 1970 so I do have a good relationship with them. I trust my doctors. When you see a neurologist and give him information about your son and it gets put to the side you do need to ask more questions. While on depakote I did have a few issues. Weght gain was onr of them. It makes the body retain water. It didn't help me with seizure control so I went to another medication. It is a relationship with the doctor that helps not only the epileptic but th family members. I have had a family member go with me at times so their questions can be answered.If yo uhave a good relationship then many issues can be resolved with a phone call so visits can be every year. I hope this helps Joe

I understand your concern anad do know that all aed's have side effects. I also know that those aed's do work for many people. Every time a parent picks up a perscriptin the pharmacist gives them a paper which tells about the medicine. It also has th side effects. It takes the body time to get used to the medication and that time period would be about 2-4 weeks. If he is still having some of those side effects then you need to tell the neurologist.I know this because I have been in studies for new medications. Yup drug studies. Now in those studies we are given forms to fill out along with information we are to list. That paper is where we put down anything that was different that day. The list was used to come up with the side effects. Now I also know that side effects do happen. The number of people that get those side effects are about 5-8%. You can read referals or complaints of all kinds of medications. You will see more complaints on meds. Now if you go by those complaints only then you are going by what 5-8% of the people taking it. SO look at the inforamtion and thinkl about the 92-95% of the people taking the medication and it is working well for them. I was put on Keppra and yes I read some of the posts. I also have been with the same group of neurologists since 1970 so I do have a good relationship with them. I trust my doctors. When you see a neurologist and give him information about your son and it gets put to the side you do need to ask more questions. While on depakote I did have a few issues. Weght gain was onr of them. It makes the body retain water. It didn't help me with seizure control so I went to another medication. It is a relationship with the doctor that helps not only the epileptic but th family members. I have had a family member go with me at times so their questions can be answered.If yo uhave a good relationship then many issues can be resolved with a phone call so visits can be every year. I hope this helps Joe 

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