Expert: Ivan Goldberg, M.D. - 5/10/2007

Question
My adult son has ocd and bipolar depression. He has been on a combo of 1000 mgs a day of depakote and also paxil and wellbutrin, this seems to keep him functional but very TIRED all the time. because of the tiredness, his psychiatrist tapered him off the depakote to see if he could get by without it since its been about a year now. well, after just one week he became so depressed he stayed in bed all day and when he finally forced himself to go to work, he was so filled with anxiety, he escaped back to bed...therefor his dr put him back on the depakote,,,apparantly he needs it. My question is, what are the long term affects of depakote and is there any cleansing program you know of to cleanse the internal organs from time to time if necessary. thank you in advance for your expert reply, if you are unable to reply, please let me know so i can inquire elsewhere. thanks   carol

Answer
Hi . . .

Depakote is often taken for many years by people with epilepsy and psychiatric disorders. In women  detrimental effects on the ovaries are possible. In both men and women there occasionally are negative effects on the pancreas, blood, bones and muscles.

There are no cleansing programs that have been shown to protect against any of these not often found side effects.

Best regards . . .
Ivan
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