Primidone is an anticonvulsant

Anticonvulsant

The anticonvulsants are a diverse group of pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. Anticonvulsants are also increasingly being used in the treatment of bipolar disorder, since many seem to act as mood stabilizers, and in the treatment of neuropathic pain. The goal of an...

 of the pyrimidinedione

Pyrimidinedione

Pyrimidinediones are a class of chemical compounds characterized by a pyrimidine ring substituted with two carbonyl groups.Examples include naturally occurring metabolites:and drugs:* Fluorouracil* Idoxuridine* Primidone* Trifluridine-References:*...

 class, the active metabolite

Metabolite

Metabolites are the intermediates and products of metabolism. The term metabolite is usually restricted to small molecules. A primary metabolite is directly involved in normal growth, development, and reproduction. Alcohol is an example of a primary metabolite produced in large-scale by industrial...

s of which, phenobarbital

Phenobarbital

Phenobarbital or phenobarbitone is a barbiturate, first marketed as Luminal by Friedr. Bayer et comp. It is the most widely used anticonvulsant worldwide, and the oldest still commonly used. It also has sedative and hypnotic properties but, as with other barbiturates, has been superseded by the...

 (major) and phenylethylmalonamide

Phenylethylmalonamide

Phenylethylmalonamide is a metabolite of primidone....

 (PEMA) (minor), are also anticonvulsants. It is used mainly to treat complex partial

Complex partial seizure

A complex partial seizure is an epileptic seizure that is associated with bilateral cerebral hemisphere involvement and causes impairment of awareness or responsiveness, i.e. loss of consciousness.-Presentation:...

, simple partial

Simple partial seizure

Simple partial seizures are seizures which affect only a small region of the brain, often the temporal lobes and/or hippocampi. People who have simple partial seizures retain consciousness...

, generalized tonic-clonic seizure

Tonic-clonic seizure

Tonic–clonic seizures are a type of generalized seizure that affects the entire brain...

s, myoclonic

Myoclonus

Myoclonus is brief, involuntary twitching of a muscle or a group of muscles. It describes a medical sign and, generally, is not a diagnosis of a disease. Brief twitches are perfectly normal. The myoclonic twitches are usually caused by sudden muscle contractions; they also can result from brief...

, and akinetic seizures and since the 1980s it has been a valuable alternative to propranolol in the treatment of essential tremor

Essential tremor

Essential tremor is a slowly progressive neurological disorder whose most recognizable feature is a tremor of the arms that is apparent during voluntary movements such as eating and writing...

. Unlike other anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine

Carbamazepine

Carbamazepine is an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug used primarily in the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder, as well as trigeminal neuralgia...

 and valproic acid

Valproic acid

Valproic acid is a chemical compound that has found clinical use as an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug, primarily in the treatment of epilepsy, bipolar disorder, and, less commonly, major depression. It is also used to treat migraine headaches and schizophrenia...

, primidone is rarely used in the treatment of bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...

 or any other psychiatric problem.