Seizures, psychoactive

Benzodiazepine psychoactive drugs that are used for anxiety, insomnia, muscle spasms and seizures. 

The psychoactive effects of phencyclidine are stimulant and similar to the effects of hallucinogens. Hallucinations are often bizarre, frightening, and challenging. Aggressive behavior, usually with amnesia, is common. Self-destruc-tive actions are also seen. Overdosage is associated with paresthesia, slurred speech, ataxia, and later catatonia, dilated pupils, and coma, with tachycardia, hypertension, and dysrhythmias. Seizures and deaths have occurred (SED-11, 86 4). 

Carbamazepine (CBZ Tegretol) (Fig. 20.6) was approved by the U.S. FDA in 1968, and it is presently indicated as initial or adjunct therapy for complex partial, tonic-clonic, and mixed-type seizures. It is one of the two safest and most effective older AEDs for these seizure types (phenytoin is the other) and is chosen for monotherapy because of its high effectiveness and relatively low incidence of side effects (40). Its tricyclic structure resembles that of the psychoactive drugs imipramine, chlorpromazine, and maprotiline and also... 

Lipka LJ, Lathera CM. Psychoactive agents, seizure production, and sudden death in epilepsy. J Clin Pharmacol. 1987 27 169-183. 

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