Anti-epileptic drugs – carbamazepine

   Carbamazepine is used in the clinical treatment of epilepsy in the 70s.  1. Indications: Mainly used for partial seizures, but also for generalized tonic-clonic seizures.  2. Dose: (1) Daily maintenance dose: 300-1200mg for adults; 10-20mg/kg for children. (2) Daily dose for initial treatment: 100mg-200mg for adults. 3. Main adverse reactions: (1) Dose-related adverse reactions: diplopia, headache, dizziness, ataxia, gastrointestinal discomfort, tremor, fatigue, sleepiness, etc. may occur at the beginning of dosing. etc. However, these side effects will gradually diminish or disappear as the duration of drug administration increases.  (2) Aggravation of myoclonic seizures, akathisia, and atonic seizures.  (3) Atopic reactions: rash occurs in 5-15% of patients, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, lupus, liver damage and bone marrow suppression are rare.  (4) Chronic adverse reactions: a small number of patients have cognitive impairment, behavioral impairment and motor impairment.  (5) Teratogenicity of carbamazepine itself is minimal, but its metabolite epoxide is teratogenic, especially in combination therapy where epoxide accumulates, resulting in a high rate of congenital abnormalities in the fetus. From mild anomalies to severe malformations can be seen, including the incidence of spina bifida of 0.5%.  4.Advantages: good selective efficacy; effective range of relatively non-sedating effect; small impact on cognitive function; small teratogenicity; relatively low cost.  5, disadvantages: the indications spectrum is small; the application of the initial may have gastrointestinal reactions; have their own enzyme-induced effects; a few have liver and bone marrow inhibition; rash and other specific reactions are more common; have toxic metabolites epoxide.