Tolperisone hel and the quality of life of neurolathyrism patients in rural Ethiopia

Abstract

Neurolathysism (NL) is a central motor disorder caused by excessive and prolonged consumption of the grass pea, Lathyrus sativus which contains the glutamate analogue excitatoxin ß-N=oxalyl=a, ß- Diaminopropionic acid (1). It also exists in a form of epidemics during times of food shortages as in flooding and famine primarily affecting the poor deprived farming communities (2,3). The disease is endemic in Ethiopia and the Indian sub-continent.
There is no established mode of treatment for Neurolathyrism. But the central muscle relaxant Tolperisone Hcl (Mydocalm: Chemical name=2, 4-dietyl- 3- piperidinopropriophenone, Gedeon Richter, Budapest, Hungary) was reported to be effective in alleviating the symptoms of NL in Bangladesh (4) and Ethiopia (5). But there was no report about the impact of the drug on the life of the patients who are hard-pressed to lead a very difficult life without any medical and rehabilitative service. And hence we have investigated some effects of the drug on the life quality of life of the patients and recorded their perspective.