Tiagabine Dosing: An Introduction
The dose of
tiagabine hydrochloride (
Gabitril®) that your healthcare provider recommends will vary, depending on a number of factors, including:
- Other medications you may be taking
- Other medical conditions you may have.
As is always the case, do not adjust your tiagabine dose unless your healthcare provider specifically instructs you to do so.
Tiagabine Dosing for Epilepsy
Tiagabine is approved to be used along with other
seizure medications to treat partial
seizures in adults and adolescents age 12 and older. Your tiagabine dose will depend on which other seizure medications you are taking. Some medications cause the body to metabolize tiagabine more quickly (causing it to be removed from the body more quickly), while others do not. Most of the studies on tiagabine were in people taking seizure medications that increase the metabolism of tiagabine, so little is known about how exactly to dose tiagabine in people taking seizure medications that do not affect it.
Seizure medications that increase the metabolism of tiagabine include:
For people taking any of the above medications, tiagabine is usually started (and increased) as follows:
- Week 1 -- Tiagabine 4 mg once daily
- Week 2 -- Tiagabine 4 mg twice daily
- Week 3 -- Tiagabine 4 mg three times daily
- Week 4 -- Tiagabine 4 mg four times daily (or tiagabine 8 mg twice daily)
- Week 5 -- Tiagabine 20 to 24 mg total per day (taken as two to four smaller doses per day)
- Week 6 -- Tiagabine 24 to 32 mg total per day (taken as two to four smaller doses per day).
Occasionally, people may require higher doses, up to a maximum of tiagabine 56 mg total per day (divided into two to four smaller doses per day).
Most of the studies on tiagabine involved people taking seizure medications that increase the metabolism of tiagabine, so little is known about how exactly to dose the drug in people taking seizure medications that do not affect it. The manufacturer of tiagabine suggests using lower dosages and increasing the dose more slowly.
