Phenytoin overdose

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Diphenylhydantoin

Contact Poison Control for instructions.

Determine the following information:

• The patient's age, weight, and condition
• Name of product (as well as the ingredients and strength if known)
• The time it was swallowed
• The amount swallowed
• If the medication was prescribed for the patient

They will instruct you if it is necessary to take the patient to the hospital. See Poison Control centers for telephone numbers and addresses. Take the container with you to the emergency room.

Some or all of the following may be performed or given:

• Maintaining the airway
• Maintaining breathing
• Activated charcoal
• Laxative
• Gastric lavage  
• Close observation
• Monitoring of phenytoin blood levels
• Treatment of other symptoms

• Mild overdose (no treatment is necessary):
  • The patient can be aroused.
• Moderate overdose (recovery is usually within 24 - 48 hours with proper treatment):
  • The patient cannot be aroused, but vital functions are normal.
• Severe overdose (a 3 - 5 day period may be required before the patient recovers, and fatality rate is less than 5%):
  • The patient cannot be aroused and vital signs (temperature, pulse, rate of breathing, blood pressure ) are abnormal.

Review Date: 05/10/2005
Reviewed By: William D. Whetstone, M.D., Division of Emergency Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.