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Epilepsy and antihistamines

Tue, 02/19/2013 - 23:24
Let me also ask if anyone has had any issues or knows of people having issues with having seizures following using benedryl or any other antihistamines. I was taking benedryl to help me sleep prior to having that last seizure. Since then I have stopped taking all over the counter medicines because I found information online about it not being a good idea for people with a history of seizures to take benedryl because it can lower your seizure threshold. Has anyone else heard this or experienced it?

Comments

I have had this happen to me

Submitted by ninejade on Fri, 2016-05-20 - 12:05
I have had this happen to me too. I noticed the last few years that using Benadryl made me feel "twitchy"  and then lead to seizures within hours and then mess me up for days (and that's just taking one pill!) but I didn't realize the connection until I did some looking into it. Now I know that antihistamines are a big mistake for me, which is hard because sometimes the Zyrtec just doesn't do the job. I need to look into some other options because I get really bad allergies in the spring and fall. 

pardon, Keppa is not for

Submitted by idk on Wed, 2018-02-28 - 20:09
pardon, Keppa is not for seasonal allergies, it is an anti-epileptic (sorry for any confusion)

Histamine is considered to be

Submitted by melissawhite4 on Fri, 2019-09-06 - 16:22
Histamine is considered to be an anticonvulsive neurotransmitter as its low levels are associated with convulsions and seizures (Kiviranta et al., 1995; Chen et al., 2003; Hirai et al., 2004). Until now, research on the anticonvulsive role of histamine has largely focused on electrically- or PTZ-induced seizures (Vohora et al., 2000; 2001; Yawata et al., 2004). However, an understanding of the possible role of histamine in temporal lobe epilepsy and the brain regions affected has begun to evolve (Jin et al., 2007; Kukko-Lukjanov et al., 2012).https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26071045I pulled this off of a Pub Med research site.  There is a lot of research suggesting that lower levels of histamines can be seizure-inducing.  

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