Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2018 Apr 17:10:18-20.
doi: 10.1016/j.ebcr.2018.04.002. eCollection 2018.

Recurrent seizures from chronic kratom use, an atypical herbal opioid

William O Tatum  1 , Tasneem F Hasan  2 , Erin E Coonan  1 , Christopher P Smelick  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Recurrent seizures from chronic kratom use, an atypical herbal opioid

William O Tatum et al. Epilepsy Behav Case Rep. .

Abstract

Kratom is an herbal compound that has been used as a recreational drug though is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. We report a 19-year-old male with recurrent seizures that developed during daily Kratom abuse as a self-treatment for anxiety. Following recurrent focal impaired awareness seizures in addition to generalized tonic-clonic seizures, he was begun on anti-seizure drugs. Seizures subsided after completing rehabilitation. Brain MRI at 29 months revealed bilaterally symmetric T1-hyperintensity in globus pallidus, subthalamic nuclei, and cerebral peduncles. Our case suggests Kratom abuse may be associated with structural brain lesions on MRI and symptomatic focal epilepsy.

Keywords: ASD, anti-seizure drugs; Abuse; DEA, Drug and Enforcement Administration; Dependency; Epilepsy; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; GTC, generalized tonic–clonic; Kratom; MRI; Opioid.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A. Brain MRI, transverse T1-weighted demonstrating normal imaging after first seizure event; B. Brain MRI, 3-T high-resolution, 29 months after initial seizure event demonstrating increased signal in the globus pallidus bilaterally during chronic Kratom use.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Boyer E.W., Babu K.M., Adkins J.E., McCurdy C.R., Halpern J.H. Self-treatment of opioid withdrawal using kratom (Mitragynia speciosa korth) Addiction. 2008;103(6):1048–1050. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bailey R.L., Gahche J.J., Miller P.E., Thomas P.R., Dwyer J.T. Why US adults use dietary supplements. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(5):355–361. - PubMed
    1. Guallar E., Stranges S., Mulrow C., Appel L.J., Miller E.R., III Enough is enough: stop wasting money on vitamin and mineral supplements. Ann Intern Med. 2013;159(12):850–851. - PubMed
    1. Henningfield J.E., Fant R.V., Wang D.W. The abuse potential of kratom according the 8 factors of the controlled substances act: implications for regulation and research. Psychopharmacology. 2018;235(2):573–589. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Economic impact of Kratom scheduling. Botanical Education Alliance; 2016.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources