Thanks JJJ. I appreciate whatever you can share. Five and a half years ago difficult child 2 had testing done at UCLA and the scaled IQ score for him was 141, before his bipolar diagnosis and before any BiPolar (BP) medications. His neuropsychologist evaluation four years later gave a Full Scale IQ of 122 and at the time, he was on Depakote and a few other medications. Then one year later (last summer) he had another evaluation at UCLA and his scaled IQ score came in at 123, and he was still taking Depakote ER. So yeah, I've seen a difference and it's quantifiable! I just don't know that there is any other MS that would work as well for his manic symptoms as Depakote has, and frankly, I'm not sure I'm willing to take him through an experimentation process. He tried Tegretol, but it counteracted the effects of the Seroquel he takes and that did not go well. He's been on Lamictal, but it was in combination with Depakote, and it didn't help like it should have.
It's unfortunate that we have to choose the lesser of two evils, but that just may be the reality of life for us. If we were offered a medication that worked like Depakote does but without the cognitive impairments, I'd jump on it!