What is the common therapeutic use of bromide?

Answer 1

• Bromide compounds, especially potassium bromide, were frequently used as sedatives in the 19th and early 20th century. Their use in over-the-counter sedatives and headache remedies (such as Bromo-Seltzer) in the United States extended to 1975, when bromides were withdrawn as ingredients, due to chronic toxicity.
• This use gave the word "bromide" its colloquial connotation of a boring cliché, a bit of conventional wisdom overused as a calming phrase, or verbal sedative.
• The bromide ion is antiepileptic, and bromide salts are still used as such, particularly in veterinary medicine. Bromide ion is excreted by the kidneys. The half-life of bromide in the human body (12 days) is long compared with many pharmaceuticals, making dosing difficult to adjust (a new dose may require several months to reach equilibrium). Bromide ion concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid are about 30% of those in blood, and are strongly influenced by the body's chloride intake and metabolism.
• Since bromide is still used in veterinary medicine (particularly to treat seizures in dogs) in the United States, veterinary diagnostic labs can routinely measure blood bromide levels. However, this is not a conventional test in human medicine in the U.S., since there are no FDA-approved uses for bromide, and (as noted) it is no longer available in over-the-counter sedatives. Therapeutic bromide levels are measured in European countries like Germany, where bromide is still used therapeutically in human epilepsy.

Answer 2

Bromide is used therapeutically to treat seizures and epilepsy, particularly in cases where other medications are not effective. It works by altering the electrical activity in the brain to reduce the frequency and severity of seizures.