Thyroid Function with Sodium Valporate

[Epiluc]

My grandson was diagnosed with Childhood Absent Seisures at the age of 8 years. He was put on Sodium Valporate (Epilim 100 mg) for 4 years now. He is now removed from this drug as signs of the sickness are no more. Apparently this type of condition does happen and disappears as they grow up.

My concern is: can this treatment have an effect on his growth (Height specifically) ? He is within 25 percentile on height and 9 percentile on weight. He has 2 younger siblings one average and the younger one on 90 percentile for the same factors.

We are getting conflicting opinions from different doctors.

Any opinions?

[madge1979]

Dear Epiluc

I'm so sorry to hear your little Grandson has had this condition and sincerely hope that he is now well and feeling great

I may be missing something .. but you have posted on the Thyroid ..board and therefore may not attract the correct attention from those who are better able to advise you on your little boys condition

Perhaps it would be better to post again in a better board ...

I wish you and him all the very best of luck take care both

Mx🌹

[Epiluc in reply to madge1979]

Thank you for your input. I will try other boards.

[Starfish123]

Hi,

I don’t know if the medication will have an effect on your grandsons weight and height but I’ve had 4 kids and they all varied greatly on weight and height until much older. My eldest was very skinny until her teens and then gained a lot of weight, the second was normal height and weight, the third was overweight very early on so much so I was told by a health visitor to cut down on feeding him, my youngest was very small and skinny and came in at 4% on the charts you speak of, he was the second smallest in his school for a few years, now he’s one of the tallest and still slim but not skinny. I hope you get the answer you are after I’m sure it’s very worrying especially since there has been another epilepsy drug in the news.

I am now being treated for epilepsy in my 50’s after having a faint earlier this year and I’ve been told I’ve had it since a child and they believe I suffered with absence’s also when young, I’ve been given no information just don’t drive and take these tablets. I’ve no idea how they will know if they are treating it as my symptoms are faints every few years or so.

I also have autoimmune hypothyroidism hense seeing your post.

I hope it helps

[Epiluc in reply to Starfish123]

Thanks a lot for your input. It helps to clarify the mind and give hope that all might be OK.

[eeng]

This paper ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/189... seems to suggest that once children stop taking Sodium Valporate any decrease in thyroid function caused by the pills rectifies itself.

I had some really tall friends who had a baby boy who was very premature and as a small child was very very small for his age. Doctors told the parents not to worry because when their son reaches teenage he will fulfill his genetic potential height-wise.

I hope this helps.

[Epiluc in reply to eeng]

Thank you very much for your reply. I will share the report with my son and daughter in law.