my eight year old son was just prescribed carbatrol 100mg twice a day. they say this is a very low dose??? i know nothing about this and any info would be great!!!

I got this off of another medical website. Hope it helps.


Carbamazepine Examples : (Carbatrol, Tegretol, Tegretol-XR)


Tegretol requires 2 to 4 doses each day. It comes in liquid, tablet, and chewable tablet forms.

Carbatrol and Tegretol-XR are new extended-release forms of carbamazepine. They require two doses each day.Carbamazepine prevents seizures by calming the electrical activity in the brain.

Carbamazepine is the medication of choice for children who have partial seizures and one of the drugs of choice for treating adults who have partial seizures. It may also be used to control generalized tonic-clonic seizures.

People who have absence seizures or myoclonic seizures probably should not use carbamazepine. It does not prevent these types of seizures and can even make them worse.

Carbamazepine is effective in preventing all three types of partial seizures.

Carbamazepine may not interfere with your ability to think clearly (cognitive impairment) as much as some other drugs used to treat epilepsy, such as phenytoin.

Carbatrol to my knowledge comes in Capsuls, It is carbamazepine extended release. I was aware of the 200 and 300mg's unless they have released newer capsul size or formulations since I last looked.

For children the dossage for carbamazeine in general is started out (ages 6-12) 100mg twice a day on the first day; it can be slowly ramped up as fast at 100mg/day at proper intervals that the Dr orders (more than one week usually) until the desired dose is reached.

For children the TYPICAL dose of Carbamazepine ends up being between 400-800 mg/day, it can be higher depending on body weight.

Mind you some are less some are more depending on the case. Some can't tollerate the drug and it's effects.

Some material was quoted from Dr. Leppik's book.

I was on the brand name version of the drug as a child (tablet version; non time release); my dose did not increase as an adult; but was reduced. I'm still on TegretolXR (a time release from of Carbamazepine).

this is a time release capsule that he is on.