?? depakote and strattera | ADHD Information

Hello all--i am fairly new to this message board (i have been on the parents of adhd children). I have a 8 ds with a dx of ADHD. He has been on strattera for about 1 1/2 years. THe first few mmonths were sheer bliss. He was calm and cooperative. However within a few months we noticed that the strattera wasn't working as well. So we added a small dose of adderall--wow he became physically violent within a week. So we stopped that. Then tried starttera and ritalin. We got the same reaction. So we stopped that. We were able to get him to gain a couple pounds and up his strattera to 35 mg. Of course it worked like a charm for a few months. Then back to square one we go. So we met with his pyscharist (sorry spelling isn't my strong suit) 3 weeks ago. We discussed that stims probably were not our ds best thing and he hasn't gained enough weight to up his starttera dose yet. We talked about depression as he often has mood swings--can cry at the drop of hat for no real reason and be angry for the same. We ruled out depression for right now. Doc prescribed 250 mg of depakote to attempt to help his mood swings. In some of my reading on these boards it is stated often that depakote is for bipolar patients. We discussed that possiblity but really have'nt decided. So i guess my ? is do you all think that ds is on depakote to see if it works to prove he has bipolar or to see if it does nothing to rule out bi polar. I know i need to call the doc but trying to get a hold of him is often difficult so i thought i would bounce it off all you guys. I could describe his behaviors and personality if that would help anyone. THanks in advance for all your insight. bridget