UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: What Drugs Are More Prone to Cause Seizure

Category: Toxicology

Keywords: seizure, overdose (PubMed Search)

Posted: 5/29/2014 by Fermin Barrueto (Updated: 12/9/2024)
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Seizure is a very common effect seen in many overdoses.  Think about the following drugs which have a higher propensity for seizure as noted in a Swiss study of over 15000 patients and isolating to single drug overdoses:

The most prevalent pharmaceuticals were mefenamic acid (51 of the 313 cases), citalopram (34), trimipramine (27), venlafaxine (23), tramadol (15), diphenhydramine (14), amitriptyline (12), carbamazepine (11), maprotiline (10), and quetiapine (10).

The drug mefenanamic acid is not used much in the USA but citalopram, venlafaxine and tramadol as well as the most prelavent bupropion which was number one in the study are all commonly prescribed in the USA. Keep a watchful eye if you see any of these drugs on a drug list or as an overdose.

References

Seizures after single-agent overdose with pharmaceutical drugs: Analysis of cases reported to a poison center.
Reichert C, Reichert P, Monnet-Tschudi F, Kupferschmidt H, Ceschi A, Rauber-Lüthy C.
Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2014 May 20:1-6. [Epub ahead of print]