THE EFFECT OF ANTIHISTAMINIC DRUGS ON CONVULSIVE SEIZURES

Abstract

Certain antihistaminic drugs are analeptics and produce convulsions in animals. Although the dose required is about a hundred times that used clinically,¹1 case is on record in which fits were produced.²In a study of the effect of several antihistaminic agents on epileptic seizures, we have found that attacks could be evoked in some persons by doses even smaller than those generally used clinically. This observation deserves the consideration of physicians who are prescribing these drugs. The study was undertaken to see if the common action of myanesin®³(3-ortho-toloxy-1,2-propanediol), and diphenhydramine (benadryl®)⁴on parkinsonian tremor also applied to an action on convulsive manifestations. We had observed⁵from electroencephalographic records that the first drug abolished petit mal discharges but increased the discharges from focal lesions of the cerebral cortex. A similar study was therefore made of the action of diphenhydramine and tripelennamine (pyribenzamine®) on seizure