I am looking for a well-documented and credible medical or legal
reference that would show a linkage between an individual with a
neuromuscular disease called "Myotonia Congenita" and a condition
called "Nystagmus." Myotonia (Thompson's OR Beckers type) causes
muscles to relax more slowly than normal (stay constricted.) It is
treated with a drug called mexelitene or "Mexitil" as the generic. I
am trying to determine that if an individual that has this disease may
be more apt to fail the sobriety test, "Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus,"
either as a direct result of the Myotonia symptoms, or as a side
effect of the anti arrythmic medicine. This reference would be needed
to be substantal enough to use in a court of law (with adequate
retained counsel.) |
Request for Question Clarification by
librariankt-ga
on
14 Feb 2005 10:28 PST
Hi Bridge,
I've done a brief search of the MEDLINE database of medical journal
articles for this topic. There were no articles that linked myotonia
congenita with nystagmus. There is one article that links mexelitene
with nystagmus, with the following sentence in the abstract:
"Three additional patients had transient minor side effects
(dizziness, nystagmus and gastrointestinal disorders) that did not
necessitate a change in therapy and 14 patients reported no side
effects."
Unfortunately this article is in Italian and dates from 1981.
How would you like me to proceed? I would be happy to get you the
citation to the article referenced above. I am also checking various
drug guides to see if nystagmus is a known side effect of the
mexiletene.
- Librariankt
|
Request for Question Clarification by
librariankt-ga
on
14 Feb 2005 10:37 PST
I also found this statement in the E-Facts database Drug Facts & Comparisons:
"In addition, there have been isolated reports of drowsiness,
nystagmus, ataxia, dyspepsia, hypersensitivity reaction, and
exacerbation of CHF in patients with pre-existing compromised
ventricular function."
Please let me now whether these sources are starting to add up to
something you can use.
LKT
|
Request for Question Clarification by
librariankt-ga
on
14 Feb 2005 10:44 PST
Nystagmus is also listed as an adverse reaction in the
Micromedex/DrugDex listing for ocular adverse reactions.
At this point I have two highly respected drug guides listing this as
a side effect of the medication as well as the Italian reference and
possibly a few others cited by the drug guides. Would you like me to
go ahead and answer your question?
Sorry about all the clarifications - I'm working on this while
managing other crises so have not been able to pull everything
together in one package.
Librariankt
|
Clarification of Question by
br1dge-ga
on
14 Feb 2005 11:27 PST
Looks promising. A few question - Is the Italian documetn available
in English? The second document seems to suggest that there needs to
be a pre-existing condition, "in patients with pre-existing
compromised
ventricular function."
Do you have access to the drug companny's "adverse reaction" documentation itself?
|
