Depakote and Erectile Dysfunction

Hi all, this is my first post. I'll give a brief background. I suffered from depression for a long time and it wasn't until 2013 that I was diagnosed with Bipolar II. I felt functional and healthy at the time so I didn't take it all that seriously (probably hypomanic, in hindsight). Over the next few years, I caused a lot of problems in my relationship because of anger, grandiosity, irritability, and hypersexuality.

My wife recently found out I was digitally cheating on her for the past few years which was almost the last straw for her. This prompted me to realize I needed to take medication.

I started taking 250 mg Depakote about a week ago. It's doing great for me - I truly feel better and "normal" for the first time in what seems like forever. However, I've gone from being hypersexual to having erectile dysfunction.

Mentally and emotionally I get turned on but the plumbing just isn't working. It's making my wife very upset, especially in light of the cheating she found out about recently. I was wondering if this is the Depakote and if anyone else has had issues with it? There isn't much online about ED and Depakote.

Any help/advice/stories are appreciated.

I have never personally had issues with ED and Depakote. I have been on 2,500 mg a day for about 8 years. A lot of the stuff. It might be something else, but I'm not a psychiatrist.

Talked to my pdoc about it and he said it is perfectly normal. It is not so much the medication but more the fact that I now have a "normal" sex drive and I'm under a lot of stress/pressure.

Things are working better now and seems to be good. I think you are right, it was probably not the medication, but just something mental like stress.

Not sure if anyone is following this thread but thought I would give an update just in case. :)

Up to 500 mg of Depakote now. My wife and I are doing much better. She was able to read some old writings I kept from when I was depressed during and just after high school. She could see the difference in my depressive writing and manic writings and it really helped her understand how bad the disorder is and what's been going on in my brain for the last 15 years or so (untreated/improperly diagnosed until just recently).

As for the sex drive, my pdoc says a "normal" drive for a 30 y/o male is 1 to 3 times per week. We are taking it slow and putting no pressure on getting in "the mood." This has helped tremendously. Things are working correctly now and getting better week after week.

It seems the problem for me was that, having been hypomanic (hypersexual) for so long that I didn't know what "normal" was. When the Depakote knocked me back down to normal, it was shocking how "low" my sex drive/ability to perform was. It was practically non-existent at first, then has been coming back to normal.

Anyways, hope this might help anyone else who has a similar reaction to medication.