Expert: Ivan Goldberg, M.D. - 10/15/2007

Question
My son was diagnosed with bipolar in August 2007 after having two manic episodes.  One in June and one in early August.  He's taking depakote and I've noticed that he has severe problems with memory loss, mostly short term loss.  It's starting to affect his life.  He's 18 and has up til now been extremely smart, now he's extremely forgetful and it's starting to scare me.  He takes depakote twice a day, 1000 mg. at a time and sometimes takes trasedone to sleep, though infrequently.  He no longer drinks and did smoke pot, but no longer.  I think he may need a different medication and don't know what to do.  We have only state insurance through the local health department.  Any help is appreciated.  This is breaking my heart seeing my sons memory get worse all the time.  Sincerely, SOndra

Answer
Hi Sondra . . .

probably the most difficult thing in life is not being able to help someone you love. From that you describe it sounds as if your son's medication should probably be altered in some way. The dose might need to be altered and/or he should take something else.

There are many drugs that help control the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Among them are:
lithium,
Tegretol,
Depakote,
Lamictal,
Trileptal,
and many others.

I have no idea where you are located and what facilities are available to you. If financial considerations are limiting the forms of care that are available to your son, probably the best thing would be to locate the medical school closest to you, and for your son to be treated in the psychiatric clinic affiliated with that medical school. The care available in such clinics is vastly superior to the care available in most public  psychiatric facilities.

Best regards . . .
Ivan