Self-Poisoning — A Complication of Epilepsy

Abstract

From 1972 to 1976 130 epileptics presented 171 times to the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, as medical emergencies with self-poisoning. They constituted 3.5 per cent of 3,733 patients poisoning themselves on 4,121 occasions. Repetition of self-poisoning was commoner in epileptics (18.5 per cent) than in non-epileptics (7.0 per cent). The 130 epileptics have been compared with a non-epileptic group of self-poisoners matched for age, sex, and number of repetitions and have been found to have less alcohol excess but significantly more psychopathy. Possible explanations and prophylactic measures are discussed. In view of the relative incidence of epilepsy and self-poisoning in the community, and of epilepsy among self-poisoners in this and other studies, it is concluded that self-poisoning is a common complication of epilepsy.

Psychiatric Comorbidity in Patients Evaluated for Chronic Epilepsy: A Differential Role of the Right Hemisphere?

“…Several studies report markedly higher rates of suicide or suicide attempts in epileptic patients [63,64,65,66]. According to one study, 61% of epileptic patients had no follow-up after a suicide attempt by drug overdose [64].…”

“…Several studies report markedly higher rates of suicide or suicide attempts in epileptic patients [63,64,65,66]. According to one study, 61% of epileptic patients had no follow-up after a suicide attempt by drug overdose [64]. In our sample, only a minority of patients (8.7%) had seen a psychiatrist before admission at our center, corroborating once more the notion of a lack of diagnosis of a concomitant psychiatric disorder in patients with chronic epilepsy [67].…”

Depression in Epilepsy: A Common but Often Unrecognized Comorbid Malady

“…Phenobarbital (PB) can cause depression (2,54,(72)(73)(74)(75). It can be associated with the occurrence of suicidal ideation (72) and of suicidal and parasuicidal behavior (52,76,77). Primidone (PRM) (75), tiagabine (TGB), topiramate (TPM) (78), vigabatrin (VGB) (79,80), and felbamate (81) are other AEDs known to frequently cause symptoms of depression.…”

Incidence of depression in Epilepsy patients

“…Previous studies have found that risk for suicide attempts in epileptics was 4 to 5 times greater as compared to the general population (Trimble & Reynolds, 1987). In this regard, existing findings ascertained that 5% to 7% of epileptics attempted suicide using self-poisoning (Mackay, 1979 ;Hawton et al, 1980 ;Hollaway, 2005).…”