Valproic acid for pain?

[nursetim, NP]

Has anybody heard of this? In looking around on the web I'm coming up goose eggs. I have to sign off on this to my cynical patients and I'M NOT convinced. Any help? Thanks Y'all.

[kids]

Never heard of using it for pain.

I did find these:

Valproic Acid Not Effective for Polyneuropathic Pain

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/468519

Valproate for treatment of chronic central pain after spinal cord injury. A double-blind cross-over study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7970862

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CDG/content/CDG_valproic_acid.asp

http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article1614.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=lg7sIgP9D3kC&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185&dq=valproic+acid+%2B+pain&source=bl&ots=gd9BYuWw4v&sig=pTEu_S1AO0NxGdvRtxQH454Llzk&hl=en&ei=1dqlSs7hK4_wsQPIiYWNDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#v=onepage&q=valproic%20acid%20%2B%20pain&f=false

And quite a bit of information on Valproate sodium for the treatment of migraines.

[Truegem]

I found this:

"The valproic acid drugs are used as non-opioid pain relievers. They belong to a general class of drugs called anticonvulsants. These drugs may be given along with pain medicines to help control neuropathic pain of cancer (numbness, tingling, burning, shooting, or electric-shock-like pain.) They are also used for preventing seizures, preventing migraine headaches, and other purposes."