Anticonvulsants & Mood Stabilisers

Seizure and bipolar agents, grouped by what they are used for rather than by one mechanism: sodium-channel blockade in carbamazepine, phenytoin, oxcarbazepine and lamotrigine, broad action in valproic acid, SV2A binding in levetiracetam, and lithium, an ion whose mechanism is still argued about. Almost nothing carries across the family — monitoring, titration and interaction profile are member facts, not class facts.

Two things are class-level. These are the enzyme movers: carbamazepine induces CYP3A4 and lowers the level of much of what else is on board, valproic acid inhibits, so two members of one family move an interaction in opposite directions. And lithium's margin is narrow and it is cleared by the kidney, so dehydration and NSAIDs push it upward without anything about the dose changing. Stopping abruptly can provoke the seizure the drug was preventing. Gabapentinoids are filed under Depressants, not here.