When you read about valproic acid, you will also see the word valproate (val-PRO-ate). This is the name of valproic acid after it has changed into the form that actually works in the body. A few other seizure medicines also are changed into valproate, so they work in the same way as valproic acid. The best-known valproate medicine in the United States is brand-name Depakote.
It is used to treat:
Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy
Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome
Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
Focal Impaired Awareness or Complex Partial Seizures
Myoclonic Seizures
Refractory Seizures
Secondarily Generalized Seizures or Bilateral Tonic Clonic Seizure
Focal Aware or Simple Partial Seizure
Tonic-clonic Seizures