Amitriptyline is a prescription antidepressant medication, while the plant Ginkgo biloba has a role in alternative medicine for a variety of health conditions. An uncommon side effect associated with both substances makes taking them together inadvisable. Consult your doctor before consuming ginkgo or any other herbal supplement if you take antidepressant medicine.
Amitriptyline Uses
Amitriptyline is classified as a tricyclic antidepressant, and researchers have not completely determined how it works, according to DailyMed. It may increase brain levels of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine or serotonin. In addition to relieving depression, amitriptyline is also useful for treating certain eating disorders and post-herpetic neuralgia, a painful condition that sometimes develops after a shingles infection. Amitriptyline also prevents migraine headaches in some people.
Seizure Risk
Like certain other antidepressants, tricyclic antidepressants can lower the seizure threshold, or the amount of stimulus necessary to produce a seizure. A seizure is possible in any person if brain stimulation becomes strong enough. Seizures have been reported with the use of amitriptyline or similar medications, notes DailyMed, a website of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Ginkgotoxin
Ginkgo biloba seeds contain a neurotoxin, and the leaves contain lesser amounts. This substance, technically known as 4'-O-methylpyridoxine and also called ginkgotoxin, causes a decrease in the formation of gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, in the brain. GABA inhibits nerve transmission in the brain, and seizure disorders are associated with low GABA activity. Commercial ginkgo products may contain ginkgotoxin, according to Drugs.com.
Considerations
Although the amount of ginkgotoxin in commercial ginkgo products may rarely be high enough to cause seizures, ginkgo extract has been connected with seizures in at least two cases in which the affected individuals had well-controlled epilepsy, according to Drugs.com. The seizures stopped after they discontinued the extract. Drugs.com cautions that the risk of seizure associated with ginkgo could increase when combining amitriptyline with this herb.
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