Reactions 506 - 18 Jun 1994

Carbamazepine

Circadian CNS disorders in an elderly patient: casereport

Circadian CNS toxicity was noted in a 69-year-old womanwith partial epilepsy soon after her carbamazepine dose wasincreased from 200mg tid to 1000 mg/day in three divideddoses.

Her symptoms, which included ataxia, severe gaitdisturbances and dysarthria, occurred 30 min aftercarbamazepine intake and disappeared within a few hours. Ablood sample taken during an episode of CNS toxicity showeda toxic carbamazepine level of 17.8 mg/L.

The woman was changed from instant- to sustained-releasecarbamazepine [Tegretol CR®]. Carbamazepine levels weremaintained in the therapeutic range and the woman did notexperience any further circadian CNS toxicity.Haefeli WE, et al. Circadian carbamazepine toxicity. Epilepsia 35: 400-402, Mar-Apr 1994 - Switzerland 800268006

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Reactions 18 Jun 1994 No. 5060114-9954/10/0506-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved