Published on 12, July, 2020
I diddnt know till this evening that this epeleptic drug can cause autism, now though i did not take this when pregnant,do you think this could stay in your system or do something that causes it? i started taking this medication when i was around 15 to the age of 18 and wondering if this possibley could be the cause? however it should have well dissapeared out my system????/
One of the areas where there is information is the relationship between valproic acid and spina bifida. I'm left wondering why it is more openly discussed with regard to spina bifida than for autism.
This Canadian site is for an academic paper in CFP MFC journal of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, published in 2006 (ie 8 years ago!). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../
Soon after it was introduced as medication for epilepsy it was observed that there was a much higher risk of spina bifida births. There is data going back fifteen years before 2006, and the risk seems to have been formally recognised in 2005. The risk increases with dosage.
Reading elsewhere, the risk seems to have been known about in French medical publications since 1982.
Similar but less marked risks have been noted for another epilepsy drug Carbamazepine found in Carbatrol, Epitol, Equetrol and Tegretol.
Valproic acid is also associated with incidences of cleft palette, extra fingers or toes and male urinary tract malformations.
Why is so much known about this aspect of risk, and so little mention made of its implications for autism?