This case report describes the clinical course and recovery of a 17-year-old boy with presumed subacute inclusion-body encephalitis who developed status epilepticus after methedrine administration.
Methedrine may trigger status epilepticus in encephalitis; single case leaves open broader safety implications.
A 17-year-old boy was sent home from school on 14 June 1963 complaining of tiredness, loss of appetite, and a sore throat. He developed a generalized headache and drowsiness, and in the next few days exhibited severe behaviour disturbances, notably swearing, saying and doing inappropriate things, and being restless and totally disorientated. These symptoms led to his admission to a psychiatric unit, where physical examination disclosed no neurological signs, but an E.E.G. showed a doubtful focus in the right posterior temporal region. On 22 June, after an injection of methedrine, he had a major epileptic seizure followed by status epilepticus, which was controlled with paraldehyde and barbiturates.
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Pearce et al. (1964) studied this question.
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