Carbamazepine

[John__0__0]

  I went to see a new neurologist. I am currently taking generic
  carbamazepine 200mg pills 3 times per day, equally spaced.  He suggested
  taking one in the morning, and the other 2 at night, because this
  would make my level higher in the early morning when I am more
  prone to having a seizure. I had never heard this, is this right?
  I have always heard to equally space them.
  Also, he suggested that I switch to the Carbatrol 300's, one in the
  morning and one at night, something about better ingestion.
  Does this mean that they are better at stopping seizures, or just
  that some people's stomachs might tolerate them better?  I have
  never had any stomach problems so far. Is Carbatrol or Tegretol
  really better than generics?
  thanks
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It sounds as if your neurologist is thinking about ways to optimize your therapy via a number ofdifferent strategies. The idea of taking a bigger dose at night is quite acceptable especially if you do really have
seizures more freuquently in the morning. This strategy is practiced very widely and shows that your physician is thinking of ways to optimize therapy rather than just going on auto-pilot.
The Carbatrol is superior to regular Tegretol since it is a slow release formulation and is ingested more gradually giving a steady blood level of the drug throughout the 24 hour period, rather than thr peaks and dipsin levels which occurr with regular Tegretol preparations.
There is little difference between Tegretol and generic but the difference between Carbotrol and generic is considerable because of Carbatrol having this slow release mechanism.
the two strategies being suggested are quite different ,one gives a peak in the morning when you need it most, the other gives a smmooth level hthroughout the day without dangerous dips in levels at any point either strategy is viable as an option.