Description
Therapeutic action
– Antiepileptic
Indications
– Epilepsy (except absence seizures)
– Neuropathic pain (alone or combined with amitriptyline)
Presentation
– 200 mg tablet
Dosage
– Epilepsy
Child: start with 5 mg/kg once daily or in 2 divided doses, then increase every 2 weeks up to 10 to
20 mg/kg/day in 2 to 4 divided doses
Adult: start with 100 to 200 mg once daily or in 2 divided doses, then increase by 100 to 200 mg
increments every 2 weeks up to 800 to 1200 mg/day in 2 to 4 divided doses
–
Neuropathic pain
Adult: 200 mg once daily at night for one week, then 400 mg/day in 2 divided doses (morning and night)
for one week, then 600 mg/day in 3 divided doses
Duration
– Epilepsy antiepileptic.: lifetime treatment. Do not stop treatment abruptly, even if changing treatment to another
–Neuropathic pain: continue several months after pain relief is obtained, then attempt to stop treatment.
Contra-indications, adverse effects, precautions
– Do not administer to patients with atrioventricular block, history of bone marrow depression.
– Administer with caution to patients with glaucoma, urinary retention, hepatic or renal impairment, heart
– May cause:
failure or blood disorders and to elderly patients.
- headache, dizziness, gastrointestinal and visual disturbances, rash, leucopenia, confusion and agitation
in elderly patients, drowsiness (use with caution when driving or operating machinery);
- rarely: severe allergic reactions (Lyell’s and Stevens-Johnson syndromes), agranulocytosis, anaemia,
bone marrow depression, pancreatitis, hepatitis, cardiac conduction defect. In these cases, stop
treatment.
– Do not drink alcohol during treatment.
– Do not combine or monitor the combination with:
- erythromycin, isoniazid, fluoxetine, valproic acid, etc. (increased carbamazepine plasma concentrations);
- rifampicin (reduced efficacy of carbamazepine);
- oral anticoagulants, oestroprogestogens (intrauterine device is preferred), corticosteroids, tricyclic
antidepressants, neuroleptics, protease inhibitors, rifampicin, itraconazole, doxycycline, tramadol, etc.
(reduced efficacy of these drugs).
– Pregnancy
- Epilepsy: do not start treatment during the first trimester, except if vital and there is no alternative (risk
of neural tube defects, facial and cardiac malformations, hypospadias). However, if treatment has been
started before the pregnancy, do not stop treatment and use the minimal effective dose. Due to the risk
of haemorrhagic disease of the newborn, administer vitamin to the mother and the newborn infant.
The administration of folic acid during the first trimester may reduce the risk of neural tube defects.
Neuropathic pain: not recommended
– Breast-feeding
: avoid
Remarks
– Also comes in 100 mg/5 ml oral solution, 100 mg tablet and 100 mg and 200 mg chewable tablets.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.