Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Neurology (Expert Forum)
dilantin and lung cancer
This forum is for questions and support regarding neurology issues such as: Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, Autism, Brain Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Pain, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, MS, Neuralgia, Neuropathy, Parkinson's Disease, RSD, Sleep Disorders, Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury.
dilantin and lung cancer
by Carl-B, Sep 07, 1998 12:00AM
My wife had an aneurism and subsequent brain surgery. She was prescribed dilantin for seizure control. About six months after her surgery she started having seizures again. The neurosurgen brought her back up to maximum dosage and she continued to have seizures so they told her to come to the hospital. They started her on intravenus dilantin and she still had seizures. After three days of this they decided to call in a specialist who took my wife off of dilantin. One week after she was able to leave the hospital she developed pleuralsy. Three weeks later she had full blown lung cancer(oat cell).Do you know of any familar cases of drug overdose of dilantin and is it possible for this type of drug to cause oat cell cancer?
===================================================================
Thanks for your question. Phenytoin (Dilantin) in supra-therapeutic dosages
will present with a number of clear neurological signs such as visual
impairment secondary to optic nystagmus, that is, oscillatory eye movements
causing poor eye fixation on targets; ataxia, that is, incoordination for
fine motor movements; dysarthria, "slurred speech"; nausea and vomiting.
All these side-effects cease when the medication is either stopped or the
dosage just diminished.
Dilantin has no correlation to lung cancer, either the "oat cell" type
or other types of lung neoplasm. It is a medication that has been used
by tens if not hundreds of millions of patients around the world.
I hope this information is helpful.
This information is provided for general medical education purposes only.
Please consult your doctor regarding diagnostic and treatment options.
