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1.  Stamp of Approval

FDA approval to treat epilepsy is based on whether a med can be used by itself (monotherapy) or must be used with another (adjunctive therapy) and the type of seizures treated. The first part is relatively simple¹, while the second can be comprised of anything from the broad categories of partial or generalized to very specific types of seizures. For example: Here is Gabitril’s entire indication and usage section, which is typical of many AEDs:

Quote: GABITRIL (tiagabine hydrochloride) is indicated as adjunctive therapy in adults and children 12 years and older in the treatment of partial seizures.

Depakote’s specificity is fairly brief:

Quote: DEPAKOTE (divalproex sodium) is indicated as monotherapy and adjunctive therapy in the treatment of patients with complex partial seizures that occur either in isolation or in association with other types of seizures. DEPAKOTE (divalproex sodium) is also indicated for use as sole and adjunctive therapy in the treatment of simple and complex absence seizures, and adjunctively in patients with multiple seizure types that include absence seizures.

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1.1  AEDs approved to treat generalized seizures

Here are AEDs with FDA approval to treat generalized seizures in adults, and if they are approved as monotherapy (to be used alone), adjunctive therapy, (to be used with other meds) or both.

Depacon (valproate sodium)	adjunctive
Depakene (valproic acid)	adjunctive
Depakote (divalproex sodium)	adjunctive
Dilantin (phenytoin)	both
Keppra (levetiracetam)	adjunctive
Lamictal (lamotrigine)	adjunctive
Tegretol (carbamazepine)	both
Topamax (topiramate)	both

1.2  AEDs approved to treat partial seizures

Here are AEDs with FDA approval to treat partial seizures in adults, and if they are approved as monotherapy (to be used alone), adjunctive therapy, (to be used with other meds) or both. The approvals, or lack thereof, regarding secondarily generalized are so vague that I’m not including anything about it. That one is up to you, your neurologist, and your insurance provider to figure out.

Depacon (valproate sodium)	both
Depakene (valproic acid)	both
Depakote (divalproex sodium)	both
Dilantin (phenytoin)	both
Felbatol (felbamate)	both
Gabitril (tiagabine hydrochloride)	adjunctive
Keppra (levetiracetam)	adjunctive
Keppra-XR (levetiracetam)	adjunctive
Lamictal (lamotrigine)	both2
phenobarbital	both
Sabril (vigabatrin)	adjunctive
Tegretol (carbamazepine)	both
Topamax (topiramate)	both
Trileptal (oxcarbazepine)	both
Vimpat (lacosamide	adjunctive
Zonegran (zonisamide)	adjunctive

1.3  AEDs with FDA Approval to Treat Bipolar Disorder

As of this writing the following AEDs have FDA approval to treat bipolar disorder:

• Depakote (divalproex sodium)
• Equetro (carbamazepine) - but not Tegretol³
• Lamictal (lamotrigine)
• Stavzor (delayed-release valproic acid)

And that’s it.

1.4  AEDs Frequently Used Off-label to treat Bipolar Disorder

• Depakene (valproic acid)
• Tegretol (carbamazepine)
• Topamax (topiramate)
• Trileptal (oxcarbazepine) - Although Novartis got spanked by the FDA for having its pharm reps push Trileptal as an off-label bipolar treatment.

1.5  AEDs with FDA Approval to Treat Migraines and Other Headaches

As of this writing the following AEDs have FDA approval to treat migraines and the like:

• Depakote (divalproex sodium)
• Stavzor (delayed-release valproic acid)
• Topamax (topiramate)
• Tegretol (carbamazepine) - Tegretol is approved to treat trigeminal neuralgia, which is technically neuropathic pain, but since it happens in your head and is often misdiagnosed as a migraine of some sort, it’s close enough.

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2.  FDA-Approved AEDs

Drugs approved by the US FDA - including trade names used overseas - to treat epilepsy and other seizure disorders. Not all drugs are available under their brand name, and some overseas trade names are obsolete; both are included here to assist anyone who knows only the now-obsolete brand/trade names.
To further muddy the waters in confusing valproates, the same trade name will be used for different valproates in different counties. E.g. Convulex is valproate sodium in Germany, but valproic acid in Belgium. I’ve indicated the countries where I’ve found (mostly from Mosby’s drug guides) what names are used where for which valproate variant.

• Accenon (ethotoin)
• acetazolamide
• Alepsal (phenobarbital)
• Aleviatin (phenytoin sodium)
• Andral (phenobarbital)
• Antisacer (phenytoin sodium)
• Antisacer (phenytoin)
• Apo-Carbamazepine (carbamazepine)
• Apo-Primidone (primidone)
• Atemperator (sodium valproate)
• Atrofen (phenobarbital)
• Barbilettae (phenobarbital)
• Barbiphenyl (phenobarbital)
• Camapine (carbamazepine)
• carbamazepine
• Carbatol (carbamazepine)
• Carbatrol (carbamazepine)
• Carbazene (carbamazepine)
• Carbazep (carbamazepine)
• Carbazina (carbamazepine)
• Carmaz (carbamazepine)
• Carpaz (carbamazepine)
• Carzepin (carbamazepine)
• Carzepine (carbamazepine)
• Celontin (methsuximide)
• Cerebyx (fosphenytoin sodium)
• Clostedal (carbamazepine)
• Convulex (valproate sodium) - Germany
• Convulex (valproic acid) - Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, and Taiwan
• Cumatil (phenytoin sodium)
• Cyral (primidone)
• Degranol (carbamazepine)
• Depacon (valproate sodium)
• Depakene (valproic acid)
• Depakin (valproate sodium) - Bulgaria and Turkey
• Depakin (valproic acid) - Italy
• Depakine (valproic acid) - Russia, Taiwan, Venezuela
• Depakine, Depakine Chrono & Depakine Druppels (valproate sodium) - Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Thailand
• Depakote, Depakote ER & Depakote Sprinkles (divalproex sodium)
• Depalept & Depalept Chrono (valproate sodium)
• Di-Hydan (phenytoin)
• Di-Phen (phenytoin)
• Diamox (acetazolamide)
• Difhydan (phenytoin sodium)
• Difhydan (phenytoin)
• Dilantin Extended, Dilantin Kapseals, and Dilantin Injection (phenytoin sodium)
• Dilantin, Dilantin-125 oral suspension and Dilantin Infatabs (phenytoin)
• Dineurin (gabapentin)
• Dintoina (phenytoin sodium)
• Dintoina (phenytoin)
• Diphantoine-Z (phenytoin sodium)
• Diphantoine (phenytoin sodium)
• Diphantoine (phenytoin)
• Ditoin (phenytoin sodium)
• Ditomed (phenytoin sodium)
• divalproex sodium
• Dormital (pentobarbital sodium)
• Dormital (phenobarbital)
• Embutal (pentobarbital sodium)
• Emeside (ethosuximide)
• Epamin (phenytoin sodium)
• Epamin (phenytoin)
• Epanutin (phenytoin sodium)
• Epanutin (phenytoin)
• Epilam (valproate sodium)
• Epilan-D (phenytoin sodium)
• Epilan-D (phenytoin)
• Epilantin (phenytoin sodium)
• Epileptin (phenytoin sodium)
• Epileptol & Epileptol CR (carbamazepine)
• Epilex (valproate sodium)
• Epilim & Epilim Chrono (valproate sodium)
• Epitol
• Epitomax (topiramate)
• Epival (divalproex sodium) - Canada
• Epival (valproate sodium) - Israel, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama
• Eposal Retard (carbamazepine)
• Eptoin (phenytoin sodium)
• Espa-lepsin (carbamazepine)
• ethosuximide
• Ethosuximide (ethosuximide)
• ethotoin
• Ethymal (ethosuximide)
• Etosuximida (ethosuximide)
• Felantin (phenytoin sodium)
• felbamate
• Felbamyl (felbamate)
• Felbatol (felbamate)
• Fenantoin (phenytoin)
• Fenatoin NM (phenytoin sodium)
• Fenemal NM Pharma (phenobarbital)
• Fenemal (phenobarbital)
• Fenidantoin S 100 (phenytoin sodium)
• Fenitron (phenytoin sodium)
• Fenobarbital (phenobarbital)
• Fenytoin (phenytoin sodium)
• Fenytoin (phenytoin)
• fosphenytoin sodium
• Foxalepsin & Foxalepsin Retard (carbamazepine)
• gabapentin
• Gabatin (gabapentin)
• Gabatril (tiagabine HCl)
• Gabitril (tiagabine HCl)
• Gantin (gabapentin)
• Gardenal (phenobarbital)
• Gardenale (phenobarbital)
• Hermolepsin (carbamazepine)
• Hidanil (phenytoin sodium)
• Hydantin (phenytoin sodium)
• Hydantin (phenytoin)
• Hydantol (phenytoin sodium)
• Kaptin (gabapentin)
• Karbamazepin (carbamazepine)
• Keppra (levetiracetam)
• Keppra-XR (levetiracetam)
• Kodapan (carbamazepine)
• Kopodex (levetiracetam)
• lacosamide
• Lamepil (lamotrigine)
• Lamictal (lamotrigine)
• Lamictin (lamotrigine)
• Lamodex (lamotrigine)
• Lamogine (lamotrigine)
• lamotrigine
• Lamotrix (lamotrigine)
• Lehydan (phenytoin sodium)
• Lehydan (phenytoin)
• Leptilan (valproate sodium) - South Africa, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Taiwan
• Leptilan (valproic acid) - Portugal
• Lethyl (phenobarbital)
• levetiracetam
• Lexin (carbamazepine)
• Linasen (phenobarbital)
• Liskantin (primidone)
• Luminal (phenobarbital)
• Luminale (phenobarbital)
• Luminaletas (phenobarbital)
• Luminaletten (phenobarbital)
• Luminalettes (phenobarbital)
• Luminalum (phenobarbital)
• Lyrica (pregabalin)
• Mazetol (carbamazepine)
• Mebaral (mephobarbital)
• Medinox Mono (pentobarbital sodium)
• Menobarb (phenobarbital)
• mephobarbital
• methsuximide
• Mintal (pentobarbital sodium)
• Mizodin (primidone)
• Mutigan (primidone)
• Mylepsin (primidone)
• Mylepsinum (primidone)
• Mysolin (primidone)
• Mysoline (primidone)
• Nembutal (pentobarbital sodium)
• Neugeron (carbamazepine)
• Neurium (lamotrigine)
• Neurontin (gabapentin)
• Neurotol (carbamazepine)
• Neurotop & Neurotop Retard (carbamazepine)
• Nordotol (carbamazepine)
• Nuctane (phenytoin sodium)
• Nuctane (phenytoin)
• Nupentin (gabapentin)
• Orfil (valproate sodium)
• Orfiril & Orfiril Retard (valproate sodium) - Hong Kong, Israel, Peru, and Singapore
• Orfiril (valproic acid) - Germany
• oxcarbazepine
• Oxrate (oxcarbazepine)
• Panitol (carbamazepine)
• Peganone (ethotoin)
• Pendine (gabapentin)
• pentobarbital sodium
• Petilin (valproate sodium)
• Petimid (ethosuximide)
• Petinimid (ethosuximide)
• Petinutin (methsuximide)
• Petnidan (ethosuximide)
• Phenhydan (phenytoin sodium)
• Phenhydan (phenytoin)
• Phenilep (phenytoin sodium)
• Phenobal (phenobarbital)
• phenobarbital
• Phenotal (phenobarbital)
• Phenytek (phenytoin)
• phenytoin
• Phenytoin KP (phenytoin sodium)
• phenytoin sodium
• potassium bromide
• pregabalin
• primidone
• Prodilantin (fosphenytoin sodium)
• Prominal (mephobarbital)
• Prysoline (primidone)
• Pyoredol (phenytoin sodium)
• Resimatil (primidone)
• Sabril (vigabatrin)
• Sertan (primidone)
• Sevenal (phenobarbital)
• Sirtal (carbamazepine)
• Sombutol (pentobarbital sodium)
• Stavzor (delayed-release valproic acid)
• sulthiame
• Suxilep (ethosuximide)
• Suximal (ethosuximide)
• Suxinutin (ethosuximide)
• Taloxa (felbamate)
• Tardotol (carbamazepine)
• Taver (carbamazepine)
• Tegol (carbamazepine)
• Tegretal (carbamazepine)
• Tegretol, Tegretol CR, Tegretol XR, & Tegretol-S (carbamazepine)
• Telesmin (carbamazepine)
• Temporal (carbamazepine)
• Temporol (carbamazepine)
• Teril (carbamazepine)
• tiagabine HCl
• Timonil & Timonil Retard (carbamazepine)
• Timox (oxcarbazepine)
• Topamac (topiramate)
• Topamax, Topamax Sprinkle, Topamax Spanules (topiramate)
• topiramate
• Tridione (trimethadione)
• Trileptal (oxcarbazepine)
• Trileptin (oxcarbazepine)
• trimethadione
• Uni-Feno (phenobarbital)
• Valcote (divalproex sodium)
• Valcote (valproate sodium)
• Valeptol (valproate sodium)
• Valoin (valproate sodium)
• Valpakine (valproate sodium)
• Valparin (valproate sodium)
• Valporal (valproate sodium)
• Valprax (valproate sodium)
• Valpro (valproate sodium)
• valproate sodium
• valproic acid
• Valprosid (valproic acid)
• Valsup (valproate sodium))
• Vasilcon (phenytoin sodium)
• vigabatrin
• Vimpat (lacosamide)
• Zarondan (ethosuximide)
• Zarontin (ethosuximide)
• Zonegran (zonisamide)
• zonisamide

3.  Non-FDA-Approved AEDs

Drugs approved outside of the US, but not by the US FDA, to treat epilepsy & seizure disorders.

• phenacemide
• pheneturide (also ethylphenacemide and acetylpheneturide)

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Almost all of the material on this site is copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 Jerod Poore. Except, of course, the PI sheets - those are the property of the drug companies who developed the drugs the sheets are about - and any documents that are written by other people which may be posted to this site will remain the property of the original authors. You cannot reproduce this page or any other material on this site outside of the boundaries of fair use copying without the express permission of the copyright holder. That’s usually me, so just ask first. That means if want to print out a few pages to take to your doctor, therapist, counselor, support group, non-understanding family members or something like that - then that’s OK to just do. Go for it! Please. As long as you include this copyright notice and the following disclaimer, I’m usually cool with it.

All rights reserved. No warranty is expressed or implied in this information. Consult one or more doctors and/or pharmacists before taking, or changing how you take any neurological and/or psychiatric medication. Your mileage may vary. What happened to us won’t necessarily happen to you.
The information on Crazy Meds pertains to and is intended for adults. While some information about children and adolescents is occasionally presented (e.g. US FDA approvals), pediatric-specific data such as dosages, side effects, off-label applications, etc. are rarely included in the articles on drugs or discussed on the forum. If you are looking for information regarding meds for children you’ll have to go somewhere else.
Know your sources!
Nobody on this site is a doctor, therapist, or a pharmacist. We don’t portray them either here or on TV. Only doctors can diagnose and treat an illness. Some doctors tend to get pissed off by patients who know too much about medications, so tread lightly when and where appropriate. Diagnosing yourself from a website is like defending yourself in court, you suddenly have a fool for a doctor. Don’t be a cyberchondriac, thinking you have every disease you see a website about, or that you’ll get every side effect from every medication¹. Self-prescribing is as dangerous as buying meds from fraudulent online pharmacies that promise you medications without prescriptions.
All information on this site has been obtained through our personal experience and the experiences family, friends, what people have reported on various reputable sites all over teh intergoogles, the medications’ product information / summary of product characteristic (PI/SPC) sheets, and from sources that are referenced throughout the site. As such the information presented here is not intended as a substitute for real medical advice from your real doctor, just a compliment to it. You should never, ever, replace what a real doctor tells you with something from a website on the Internet. The farthest you should ever take it is getting a second opinion from another real doctor. Educate yourself - always read the PI/SPC sheet or patient information leaflet (PIL) that comes with your medications and never ever throw them away.
Crazy Meds is not responsible for the content of sites we provide links to. We like them, or they’re paid advertisements, or they’re something else we think you should read to help you make an informed decision about a particular med. Sometimes they’re more than one of those things. But what’s on those sites is their business, not ours.
Very little information about visitors to this site is collected or saved. From time to time I look at search terms used and which pages they bring up in an effort to make the information I present more relevant. And the country of origin, just because I’m geeky like that. That’s about it. Depending on how you feel about Schrodinger, our privacy policy should either assuage or exacerbate your paranoia.
All brand names of the drugs listed in this site are the trademarks of the companies named on the PI/SPC sheet associated with the medication, sometimes on the pages about the drugs, even though those companies may have been acquired by other companies who may or may not be listed in this site by the time you read this. Or the rights to the drug were sold to another company. And any or all of the companies involved may have changed their names.
Crazy Meds is optimized for the browser you’re not using on the platform you wish you had. Between you and me, it all looks a lot cleaner using Firefox or Safari, which is what a plurality of visitors use. And I’m running Windows XP3. On a computer that sits on top of my desk. With a 23 inch monitor. Hey, at least you can make the text larger or smaller by clicking on the + or - buttons in the upper right hand corner. If you have Java enabled. Like 99% of the websites on the planet, Crazy Meds is hosted on domain running an open source operating system with a variety of open source applications, including the software used to display what you’ve been reading. As such Crazy Meds is not responsible for whatever weird shit your browser does or does not do when you read this site².
No neurologists, psychiatrists, therapists or pharmacists were harmed in the production of this website. Use only as directed. Void where prohibited. Contains nuts. Certain restrictions may apply. All data are subject to availability. Not available on all mobile devices or in all dimensions of reality.

‘Everything is true, nothing is permitted.’ - Jerod Poore

¹ While there are plenty of books to help you with hypochondria, for some reason there’s not much in the way of websites. Then again, staying off of the Internet is a large part of curing/managing the disorder.

² Have I mentioned how open source operating systems for commercial applications is one of the dumbest ideas in the history of dumb ideas?
[begin rant] I rent a dedicated server for Crazy Meds. It’s sitting on a rack somewhere in Southern California along with a bunch of other servers that other people have rented. The hardware is identical, but no two machines have exactly the same operating systems. I don’t even need to see what is on any of the others to know this. If somebody got their server at the exact same time, with the exact same features as I did, I’m confident that there would be noticeable differences in some aspects of the operating systems. So what does this mean? For one thing it means that no two computers in the same office of a single company have the same operating system, and the techs can spend hours figuring out what the fuck the problem could be based on that alone. It also means that application software like IP board that runs the forum here has to have so many fucking user-configurable bells and whistles that even when I read the manual I can’t find every setting, or every location that every flag needs to be set in order for a feature to run the way I want it to run. And in the real world it means you can get an MBA not only with an emphasis on resource planning, but with an emphasis on using SAP - a piece of software so complex there are now college programs on how to use it. You might think, “But don’t people learn how to use Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator in college?” Sure, in order to create stuff. And in a way you’re creating stuff with SAP. But do you get a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis on Photoshop?
Back in the Big Iron Age the operating systems were proprietary, and every computer that took up an entire room with a raised floor and HVAC system, and had less storage and processing power than an iPhone, had the same operating system as every other one, give or take a release level. But when a company bought application software like SAP, they also got the source code, which was usually documented and written in a way to make it easy to modify the hell out of it. Why? Because accounting principles may be the same the world over, and tax laws the same across each country and state, but no two companies have the same format for their reports, invoices, purchase orders and so forth. Standards existed and were universally ignored. If something went wrong it went wrong the same way for everyone, and was easy to track down. People didn’t need to take a college course to learn how to use a piece of software.
I’m not against the open source concept entirely. Back then all the programmers read the same magazines, so we all had the same homebrew utilities. We even had the forerunner to QR Code to scan the longer source code. Software vendors and computer manufacturers sponsored conventions so we could, among other things, swap recipes for such add-ons and utilities. While those things would make our lives easier, they had nothing to do with critical functions of the operating system. Unless badly implemented they would rarely cause key application software to crash and burn. Whereas today, with open source everything, who the hell knows what could be responsible some part of a system failing. [/end rant]