behavior changes

Kelley - YES! My daughter (also 6) was put on Depakote plus Lamictal for absence seizures. Her behavior lately has been really awful. It's as if her normal personality is magnified. She is definitely very defiant, also sort of antisocial, acting out, moody. Also - to address your issues of inability to sit still - she gets in these silly spells - where something will trigger her to giggle and laugh and she just can't shut it off. So yes- I have seen behavior changes and thought I was going crazy. My doctor did say the silliness thing is a known side effect of depakote. Very frustrating.... which is worse - seizures, or awful behavior?

My daughter is now almost 8 years old and has been on Depakote for almost 6 years. She has had difficulty maintaining seizure control throughout her entire epilepsy history. Our doctor tried adding on different medications in hopes of getting better control. One of the medications they added on was Trileptal and unfortunately this made her have more seizures. We eventually discontinued using it. When my daughter's levels of Depakote were too high, we saw her personality change terribly. She fatigued very easily and would have emotional meltdowns until we let her have a nap. She would go from being this very lovable child to one who didn't want anyone to touch her. She would get very sensitive and cry about any little thing as well as very irritable. This was our indication that she was getting too much medication. We ended up having her blood drawn close to every month rather than every three months as our doctor had recommended because sometimes without having changed her dosage, her levels would creep up on their own. I don't remember if the Trileptal would make the Depakote go up or down but they do interact. Our doctor was baffled by the level fluctuations and even brought it to the attention of the manufacturer. Be firm with the doctor when you tell him about the changes in your son's behavior. Some doctors only want to treat the seizures and not the child. No one knows your child better than you do. Keep a diary of how your son's behavior is on different levels so that you can document the changes and bring it to his attention. Hope this helps you out. Good luck.

I personally think your doctor's comment was a load of baloney! You should find a new doctor pronto! My 7 year old has had seizures for 5 years & has taken many different meds in effort to control the szs. The drugs & the seizures DEFINITELY DO affect thinking, memory & behavior, you will read that all over the place in this website. If the medicine works well, you may choose to put up with the behaviour. If the behaviour becomes intolerable (my sweet son took to biting kids at school earlier this year!) then you should try a different med. If the med does not work well, definitely get him on something else. And dont stop there - the drugs will not cure your son's epilepsy, you will need to do a lot of research and testing to try to find out the source/cause of your son's seizures. If he does not have a type of epilepsy that he will outgrow, you need to do everything you can to find an alternative to the medication. Ketogenic Diet, Brain Surgery, read, read, read. And find a really good epileptologist (neurologist specializing in epilepsy), preferrably a pediatric one. Best wishes.