The most dangerous epilepsy drugs named

All of the epilepsy drugs come with a health warning: they make you suicidal. Now researchers have pinpointed the most dangerous ones. Many of the newer anti-epileptics increase the risk of suicide and self-harm three-fold, researchers at the Charite University Medical Centre in Berlin have found. The most dangerous include Keppra (levetiracetam), Topamax (topiramate) and Sabril (vigabatrin). The researchers were able to discover the most dangerous anti-epileptics after they analysed a database of UK patients. Of these, 44,300 people had been prescribed an anti-epileptic between 1989 and 2005, and 453 of these had committed suicide or had attempted it. The ‘danger drugs’ come with a far higher risk of causing depression which, in turn, makes the people more suicidal. (Source: Neurology, 2010; 75: 335-40).