My son (14) just started taking depakote for bipolar disorder. He has been taking 1000mg a day for a week now. before that he was taking 750 mg a week. We have noticed he wants to sleep a LOT. not because he's depressed. He just seems to fall asleep as if he cannot stay awake. He falls asleep in the middle of the day now all the time. Is that a temporary side effect? a sign that he is overdosed on the meds? Can anyone give me some of your experiences? When he's awake he seems much more at ease and less irritable on the depakote (with a few exceptions) but the constant sleeping is concerning to me. He is already pretty overweight (250) because of his issues and depakote supposedly makes you gain. I can imagine sleeping all the time would make it happen quickly! Is this only temporary?