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← Return to Successful Depakote weaning
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Hello,
My son too has been on Depakote since he was around 10, he is now 23 and I worry about what it is doing to him internally as well. I guess Depakote was the go to drug back then. It has worked for him all these years(knock on wood) that we are afraid to switch. I've been looking into lamictal/lamotrigine it seems to be one of the closest newer drugs to Depakote. I worry about his future and possibly wanting to have kids some day. I have been reading that they are finding that depakote can cause infertility in men. I always ask his epileptologist if there are still people taking this drug for over 20 years and he always reassures me yes, but I'm not so sure because nobody ever talks about Depakote on this site that I am aware of.
Sorry if I got off track of what this original post was about but its been awhile and I can't seem to follow what everyone was talking about.
I appreciate you reaching out!
Trish
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My son (18) has only been epileptic for 14 mos but immediately they put him on Keppra which did absolutely nothing for him. After a stay in the EMU they took him off Keppra and put him on Depakote. Depakote works well for him but he had excessive weight gain and so he asked his neurologist to switch him. He is now on both Depakote and lamictal and he is much happier with that. With being lower doses of each med there are less negative side affects and the transition went much better than we anticipated.
He is now in a college dorm and though we worry about him taking care of his medical needs, so far all is well.
Tracey