Dear readers:
Please excuse the previous version of this post, which was distrubited
without its text due to a problem with my news reader interface.
I would be grateful to anyone who could provide, or point me
towards, information about the likely interaction between the
antiepileptic drug Tegretol and the hallucinogen psilocybin. Due to
the lack of clinical studies of 'street' drugs, I imagine that no one may
know for sure, so I'd also appreciate info about the neuro-
pharmacological actions of both drugs, especially psilocybin.
A friend of mine in his 20's has been using psilocybin (but not
any other self-administered drugs) occasionally since college. He also
has a history of petit mal absence seizures, beginning a few years ago
and worsening. He says he never saw any connection between the occurence
or frequency of seizures and the times he took psilocybin.
Last year, the seizures were found to be the result of a tumor in his
frontal lobe (I'm not sure of its exact location). Removal of the tumor
didn't stop the seizures entirely, but they have since been well
controlled by Tegretol. However, he recently had several typical
seizures. A possible cause is that he had taken psilocybin for the
first time since the operation several days before the reappearance
of the seizures. He is wary of mentioning this to his doctors,
however, and put the question to me instead. (I'm a neuroscience
student). I'm not exactly comfortable advising him on the issue, and I'd
appreciate any help that anyone could provide.
I'd welcome discussion of this issue on the net, but please also
send your comments directly to me, as I may not have the time to
stay current with each newsgroup. Thank you very much.
