Kronk Noah N, Kronk Brooke K, Robbie Ahmed T
Emergency Medicine, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, USA.
Neurology, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, USA.
Cureus. 2023 Dec 9;15(12):e50225. doi: 10.7759/cureus.50225. eCollection 2023 Dec.
Lithium, a mood stabilizer commonly prescribed for bipolar disorder, has a narrow therapeutic index that increases the risk of toxicity for patients who are prescribed this medication. Patients presenting with lithium toxicity could have a wide array of symptoms triggered by several factors that mimic other neurological conditions. In this paper, we discuss the case of an 81-year-old male who presented to the emergency department with worsening tremors and visual hallucinations, ataxia, and cognitive decline. He was initially thought to have Parkinson's disease with dementia in the outpatient setting and was later found to have lithium toxicity. Swift identification and management, involving fluid diuresis, led to the complete resolution of the patient's neurological symptoms by the fourth day of hospitalization. This case calls attention to the challenges of diagnosing lithium toxicity due to the variability in presentation as well as precipitating factors that clinicians must be cognizant of when working up patients who are prescribed lithium.
锂是一种常用于治疗双相情感障碍的心境稳定剂,其治疗指数较窄,这增加了服用该药物患者的中毒风险。锂中毒患者可能会出现一系列由多种因素引发的症状,这些症状与其他神经系统疾病相似。在本文中,我们讨论了一名81岁男性的病例,该患者因震颤加剧、视幻觉、共济失调和认知衰退而前往急诊科就诊。他最初在门诊被认为患有帕金森病合并痴呆,后来被发现患有锂中毒。迅速识别并采取包括液体利尿在内的治疗措施,使患者的神经症状在住院第四天完全缓解。该病例提醒人们注意,由于临床表现的多样性以及诱发因素,诊断锂中毒存在挑战,临床医生在对服用锂剂的患者进行检查时必须对此有所认识。