Sodium valproate

[tudorqueenie]

Hi there,

my husband has epilepsy and has been taking sodium valproate for 25+ years. We have a 2.5 year old child who is thankfully healthy. I am on no medication. My husband is in his mid-fourties and I am in my early thirties.
we have been wanting to have a second baby but I am terrified about the effects of valproate. Obviously I know that it is much more dangerous when the woman takes it, but there have been studies about the effects on sperm. He has had an appointment with his neurologist and he has confirmed the same.
i am not looking for advice - I am wondering if there is anyone here in a similar situation, where it is the dad who is taking valproate. Just looking to read your experiences and thoughts.

thank you so much :)

Heya! Yes, I am / was in the same position. My partner was also on sodium valproate. We were about to start our IVF cycle so spoke to his neurologist and he recommended we don’t proceed until he slowly changed to a different/relatively new medicine called Levetiracetam. He said that all new patients he no longer puts on valproate but on this other one as it’s generally considered safer. The transition went great, we can’t say we have evidence on changes to his sperm but the cycle was successful so far and I’m now 9 weeks pregnant. Glad to hear your child is healthy! It’s definitely something that is a worry in the back of my mind but hoping for the best.

Thank you so much for your reply, I really appreciate it!! 💜

@tudorqueenie hey, just wondered how you got on with this?
My partner is epileptic and on sodium valproate as well as levetericitam and Lacosamide.
We asked his consultants 4 times if it was okay to TTC on and each time got told yes. Been pregnant twice, lost both (different kind of losses).
He’s recently had a phone call to say that there is new research to say babies born to fathers who have taken sodium valproate in the 3 months leading up to conception are at a higher risk of having neurodevelopmental disorders and have advised us not to try at all anymore until he has titrated off the sodium valproate and has been off it for 3 months!