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There are one or two medications that should be avoided during pregnancy, if possible. And that’s another reason you should discuss with your physician if you are planning to get pregnant or could become pregnant. The medication that we worry about the most is called valproic acid or Depakote. In general, we try to make sure that a woman who may get pregnant is not taking this medication. However, it’s important to know that even for women who are taking this medication throughout pregnancy, the risk for having a child with a major birth defect, including birth defects that involve the brain or spinal cord, is only about 4% compared to about one and a half or 2% for the population in general, meaning women who are not taking Depakote.
