Q:  Doesn't Remember Stealing

I was prescriped Depakata and I stole money from mt=y room mate and stole a family members credit card. I do not recall any of it. I have been off the medician for a week now and I do not remember steeling anything. I felt heavily druged and I did not know half the shit I did. Please tell me what happened to me I am in alot of trouble with my family and friends. Please tell me what happened? I need something to tell them.

Thanks

Dear Ms. O' -- 
Sounds like a real mess.  You could conclude this was due to Depakote; sounds like you basically have.  I can't say that's not correct, and I've definitely seen people made nonfunctional by Depakote (only a few, usually it helps a great deal, but it can happen).  However, I've never seen it make someone steal.  

Seems like either you claim that you were so out of it you didn't know what you were doing (although it's still an issue then as to why you were stealing, as opposed say to walking the dog or driving to Minneapolis); or you invoke a concept called "disinhibition".  This term is used in my business to describe somebody who does something uncharacteristic, frequently something to their benefit and fairly antisocial, like making sexual innuendos or jumping up on a table and dancing provocatively or something like that.   Usually we're talking about benzodiazepines (Valium, Ativan for example) with that phrase.  But Depakote has actions that are somewhat similar to Valium in some ways, so maybe, just maybe, there's a connection there.  I just searched "valproate [that's Depakote] disinhibition" on PUB MED and there was no connection noted previously in the literature.  I wonder what your friends and family are going to make of this medical discussion of these events, but I'll leave the translation to you.  

Dr. Phelps