High depkote blood levels and sharp pains

[irishbookfairy]

Hi,  I have been taking 1000 mg. of Depakote/day for bipolar disorder for 5 year now and last year I had an ultrasound done.  They said that I have fatty liver caused by drinking/drugs (apparently there are 2 types--mine and one for people who are overweight).  I also had a cyst on my liver.  They told me to come back in 6 months for another ultrasound.  Well I totally forgot about it until recently.  I was going in for some routine blood work and I told my doctor that I wanted to get a Depakote blood level done as I had not had one in over 2 years, I am on maintenance now.  Before maintenance you have to get a blood draw for Depakote once every 3-4 months.  I told him to refer me for a ultrasound also since I had remembered about it.  I have been gaining a significant amount of weight over the last year and I have actually been eating much better, with better eating habits and more exercise.  The proof of that came back in the lowered cholesterol numbers.  However my Depakote levels were elevated.  Normal range is 50-100 and mine was 120.4.  The doctor told me I need to contact my psychiatrist to adjust my meds.  I called them and the nurse said he was out of the country.  When I told her about my Depakote levels she got real serious and said I needed to have my doctor fax over my test results asap.  She said high Depakote levels could damage my liver.  

When I was told last year that I had fatty liver the doctor told me that it would not just go away.  She said that if I wanted to get better I would need to quit taking Depakote.  I told her I could not do that because it is the only mood stabilizer that has been able to calm the bipolar beast within me.  My children may as well not even have a mom when I am not taking Depakote.  It is that bad.  She said I would probably end up with liver disease within 20 years.  I asked her if that is what I would probably die from.  She looked at me very seriously and said "If you dont quit taking Depakote, and if nothing else gets you before then, yes, either liver disease or hepatitis will kill you".  Nice.  She also told me I should never, ever drink any alcohol again.  Well, lately my right side where my liver is has been more swollen than my left side.  It is slightly tender and like somone else on this board mentioned, I, too, have a hard time sleeping on my right side.  It really aches.  Last night I was sitting in a chair at my computer and my cat was on my lap.  I bent down to her to give her our "nose kiss" and I experenced a horrible pain where my liver is.  It felt like a knife was slicing through it and not just a knife but one that had been stuck in a hot fire first.  My poor cat saw how much pain it caused me because she immediately started licking my hand.  The pain lasted for about 45 seconds.  I was seriously considering waking my husband up to take me to the ER when it just stopped.  That was it.  No more pain at all after that.  Today there have been little "tugs" of pain now and then.  The weird thing is my liver panel came back completely normal, as did my CBC.  My question:  What could this be?  Should  I be concerned?  I have not gone for the ultrasound yet.  I am visiting my mom with my kids for the first week of summer.  I thought I would do it when I came home.  I have heard people talk about "acute organ disorders" before where something just starts to go bad real first and you better get in fast to save it.  Do you guys think I am ok for now?  Thanks for listening or reading, I know I am tiring!  irishbookfairy