Epileptic patients and subjects taking
carbamazepine long-term show a transient increase in
serum levels, possibly accompanied by an increase in adverse effects, for the first few days after starting to take
cimetidine, but these adverse effects rapidly disappear.
An increase in
carbamazepine adverse effects may be seen, and patients should be warned. However, because the
serum levels are only transiently increased the adverse effects normally disappear by the end of a week. Ranitidine appears to be a non-interacting alternative to
cimetidine, and
oxcarbazepine appears to be a non- interacting alternative to
carbamazepine.