Prescription Drugs 2 Go

Carbamazepine for Epilepsy

Say carbamazepine and you immediately think epilepsy, rather, a drug to treat it. Carbamazepine is widely used as an anti-convulsant medication as well as for other conditions such as bipolar disorder, post-traumatic disorder and neuropoathic pain syndrome.

What Are Seizures?

Epilepsy is a neurological condition where there is abnormal, excessive and sudden neuronal activity in the brain. These are short bursts of firing by the nerves in the brain that precipitates seizures.

Anti-convulsants are also called antiepileptic drugs or AEDs, as well as anti-seizure drugs or ASDs.

But despite the availability of drugs such as carbamazepine, around 50 million people across the globe suffer from epilepsy. That’s because epilepsy is not curable; it is a disease that has to be managed lifelong.

Children and the elderly are most prone to it though it can surface at any age. But despite medical advances and the easy availability of drugs like carbamazepine, as many as 30% of patients have uncontrollable seizures.

What is Prosopalgia?

Another neurological condition treated by carbamazepine is trigeminal neuralgia once called tic douloureux. Also known as prosopalgia, this is a condition that afflicts one or both of the facial trigeminal nerves.

For no apparent reason, or so it would seem, patients experience sudden, sharp bursts of acute pain in the eye, ear, lips, nose, scalp, forehead, teeth or jaw. This almost always occurs on only one side of the face.

Bipolar disorder has been linked to chemical imbalances in the brain and is another disease that needs to be managed throughout the patient’s life. This is a psychotic condition characterized by delusions, hallucinations and other psychiatric symptoms.

Though the drugs of choice for bipolar disorder are lithium carbonate or lamotrigine, carbamazepine also acts as a mood stabilizer. Like carbamazepine, lamotrigine is also an anti-convulsant drug.

Bipolar Disorder

 Another common disorder routinely treated drugs that contain carbamazepine is bipolar disorder. This is a psychiatric condition there individuals exhibit extreme mood swings, from manic states to severe depression.

Carbamazepine is available in various forms such as chewable tablets, an extended-release tablet, an extended-release capsule and a liquid to be swallowed.

There is one potentially dangerous side-effect associated with carbamazepine. It’s a life-threatening condition called Stevens–Johnson Syndrome. This involves cell death, with the outer layer of the skin or epidermis separating from the inner layer or the dermis.

Doctors will test you to see if you’re genetically prone to this disease before prescribing carbamazepine.