There has been an increase in the use of anticonvulsants as medication to treat wide variety of diseases or conditions such as mania and bipolar disorder too. Other medications that are used to treat the bipolar disorder are Lamictal and Depakote. The anticonvulsants have been noticed to make good improvements as mood stabilizers for treating bipolar disorders. Initially the anticonvulsants would only be prescribed to people who did not have any response to lithium but nowadays they are prescribed either alone, together with lithium or an antipsychotic drug to suppress any mania. The anticonvulsants work by making the brain’s hyperactivity calmer in several ways. Due to this fact, the drugs are also used to treat a wide variety of other head or brain disorders such as migraines. Some of the anticonvulsants that are used to treat bipolar disorder are; topamax (topiramate), Lamictal (lamotrigine), Depakote or depakene, Gabritril (tiagabine) and Tegretol ( carbamazepine).
When each of the anticonvulsants is administered, the brain reacts in varying ways depending one anticonvulsant to another. The patient may experience varying feelings after using different anticonvulsants. However, after several weeks of taking the medication, the drugs get to maximum effectiveness and the bipolar disorder starts disappearing slowly day after day. Just like any other drug, anticonvulsants have their own side effects which include, dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, fatigue and the patient may also gain a little weight over the medication period and some rashes may also appear at certain places of the body. This is why is imperative to get medical checkups by the doctor taking your blood and monitoring your progress. Some of the anticonvulsants may cause kidney or liver damage or even decrease the amount of platelets in the blood of the patient taking them. The good thing is that the side effects reduce with time and there are any long term effects, they vary from one anticonvulsant to another.
Some precautions to take are that pregnant women should never take anticonvulsants without the doctor’s consultation. This is because the anticonvulsants may increase the risks of bearing a child with defects. Getting a doctor’s consultation is very important because the anticonvulsants can at times react if taken with other medications such as aspirin.
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