Dear kishrelabar
Till now your brother has got three episodes of fits, and he was started with Eptoin 300 in night and today after one episode of fit dose has been increased to 400 per day.
eptoin or Phenatoin is one of very important anti epileptic drug and its a broad spectrum drug and quite efficacious. But the drug comes with a lot of side effects as gum hypertrophy, blood cell count abnormalities,
dizziness,
hypotension, idiosyncratic reaction, ataxia,
nausea,
vomiting,
diarrhea, increased hair growth etc.
But the drug is widely available and is very cheap so it is very commonly prescribed. There are a lot of other drugs which can also be used in such situation but it depends upon doctors choice. Like
Carbamazepine, Sodium valporate, Oxcarbamazepine. These drugs are comparatively better tolerated than eptoin. Other add on drugs as levatricetam can also be used with them.
Supplementation of drugs with
folic acid tablets is also very beneficial.
And in last special precautions should be followed for such patients-
never to skip any drug dose, if pt forgets to take tablet to a particular time it has to be taken when ever pt come to know about missed dose
avoid bright lights, sound, loud music
avoid heights
take proper nutrition at proper time
kindly consult your doctor before stopping any medicine
thanks
take care
kindly rate