Guest guest Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Intracranial Hypertension (IH) is a rare but potentially serious Neurological Condition. While the physiological nature of how IH occurs remains unknown, there are certain factors that have been identified as causative factors in some patients, which you'll find listed here. If you feel something should be listed here that isn't, please contact me, habanno@.... IH has been documented in association with a variety of medicines, particularly the tetracyclines. Doctors should regularly inquire about headache when prescribing tetracycline, even for a short period of time. The combination of a tetracycline and isotretinion should be avoided. Complications of IH can be lasting visual deficits or even blindness, so discontinuing any medicine possibly associated is generally done promptly (under the advice of your doctor). When associated with medication, IH may be totally resolved upon stopping the medication in question. *Conditions that may cause IH Obstruction to Venous Drainage Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis Superior Vena Cava Syndrome Increased Right Heart Pressure Bi-Lateral Radical Neck Dissection with Jugular Vein Ligation Head Trauma *Other Health Problems, linked to IH Overweight, Recent Weight Gain Orthostatic Edema Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease HIV Infection Iron Deficiency Anemia Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Sleep Apnea Systematic Lupus Erythematosis Syndrome 's Disease Hypoparathyroidism *Medicinal Associations Vitamin A, and related compounds Vitamin Supplements All Trans-Retinoic Acid (for Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia) Hormones Corticosteroids (Particularly Withdrawal) Growth Hormone Norplant Leuprorelin Acetate (LH-RH Analogue) Amiodarone Chlordecone (Kepone) Lyclosporine Lithium Nalidixic Acid Accutane - Accutane use has been associated with a number of cases of IH, some of which involved concomitant use of tetracyclines. Concomitant treatment with tetracyclines should therefore be avoided. Patients with symptoms should be screened for papilledema and, if present, they should be told to discontinue Accutane immediately and be referred to a Neurologist for further diagnosis and care Tetracycline and Related Compounds Minocycline Doxycycline Sulfa Antibiotics *More Information...... IH appears to occur most frequently with minocycline. Of the medicines associated with IH, minocycline is most frequently reported in the literature. The WHO adverse reactions database documents 188 cases of Intracranial Hypertension with Minocycline, 31 with Tetracycline, and 27 with Doxycycline. One review of 162 cases of medicine-related IH found that 9% linked to Minocycline, 5.5% to Tetracycline, and 1.2% to Isotretinoin. The lipophilic properties of minocycline may be the explanation for the higher number of reported cases. It is possible that the incidence of IH may increase if two or more drugs which might cause IH are used together. For this reason tetracyclines should not be prescribed concomitantly with retinoids (e.g. isotretinoin). In contrast to the truly idiopathic cases, minocycline-related IH occurs more often in patients of normal weight than in the obese. Minocycline-induced cases tend to resolve on stopping the medicine, without recurrence, strengthening the cause and affect hypothesis. The information here was obtained from the following sites: Neuroland Medsafe http://groups.msn.com/pseudotumorcerebri/ptccauses.msnw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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