Valproic acid is a drug presented as a sodium salt known as sodium valproate or valproate sodium. Doctors use sodium valproate to treat epilepsy, bipolar disorder and other psychiatric conditions requiring the administration of mood stabilizers. Doctors also prescribe this drug to treat migraine headaches. Sodium valproate comes in both intravenous and oral forms.
Understanding Epilepsy
Epilepsy comprises a group of chronic syndromes that involve the recurrence of seizures. Seizures occur during limited periods of abnormal electrical discharge of cerebral neurons. Drugs that work as anti-seizure agents have depressant actions on the abnormal discharge. Doctors use sodium valproate to specifically treat myoclonic seizures. Myoclonic seizures cause jerks or jumps that usually do not last more than a second or two. Myoclonic seizures involve an individual muscle or group of muscles, not the entire body, which other types of seizures involve.
Mechanism
According to "Integrative Medicine," sodium valproate in high doses blocks sodium channels located in your cell membranes. By blocking the sodium channels, sodium valproate prevents the electrical discharges from initiating. Sodium valproate also blocks calcium channels in the cerebral cortex from initiating a rhythmic discharge. Additionally, sodium valproate makes you cells more permeable to potassium, therefore regulating the mechanism of electrical discharge. According to "Integrative Medicine," the principal action of this drug is to increase the activity of a neurotransmitter, a brain chemical called GABA. GABA helps keep the nerve activity in your brain in balance.
Mood Stabilizer
Mood disorders result in rapid and unstable mood shifts. Mood disorders include bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. Bipolar disorder is a disease that causes your mood to change from an extremely good mood called mania to severe depression. Borderline personality disorder is a mood disorder that results in a prolonged disturbance of personality function. Sodium valproate treats the state of mania but not the state of depression. Although not completely understood, according to "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine," sodium valproate acts as a mood stabilizer in the same way it controls seizures by increasing the amount of GABA in your brain.
Side Effects and Precautions
Sodium valproate may cause drowsiness, especially if taken together with other antiepileptic drugs or with benzodiazepines. Other side effects include weight gain and disorders in the liver, pancreas or blood cells. Additionally this drug may enhance suicidal thoughts in certain individuals. You should only stop taking this medication gradually and under the supervision of a medical professional.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Valproate Sodium (Intravenous Route); November 2010
- NetDoctor: Epilim (Sodium Valproate)
- "Integrative Medicine"; David Rakel; 2002
- "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine"; Dennis Kasper, Eugene Braunwald, Stephen Hauser, Dan Longo, J. Larry Jameson and Anthony Fauci; 2004
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