olanzapine and Pruritus

Topics: Adult; Advance Care Planning; Aged; Antiemetics; Baclofen; Benzodiazepines; Constipation; Depressive Disorder, Major; Dyspnea; Female; Hiccup; Humans; Male; Methylphenidate; Middle Aged; Morphinans; Morphine; Nausea; Olanzapine; Palliative Medicine; Polyethylene Glycols; Prochlorperazine; Pruritus; Sertraline; Terminal Care; Walkers

Depression is a disorder held responsible for high morbidity in the overall population. Causes of depression vary, but lifestyle and stress can greatly contribute to its morbidity. Consumption of antidepressants is showing a trend in the economically developed countries. Apart from antidepressants, the treatment of depression can consist of other psychopharmaca. Depending on the severity of a disorder, that is - of psychotic symptoms, antipsychotics can be introduced in the treatment. Among those atypical antipsychotics have an advantage. This paper will illustrate a course of treatment of a female patient, diagnosed with psychotic depression and treated with antipsychotics (i.e. olanzapine, ziprasidone), to which she developed side effects. To each of the antypsychotics the patient developed side effechts, causing in prolonged treatment and affected its course.

Topics: Affective Disorders, Psychotic; Antipsychotic Agents; Benzodiazepines; Depressive Disorder, Major; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Eruptions; Drug Substitution; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Olanzapine; Piperazines; Pruritus; Sulpiride; Thiazoles; Weight Gain

Delusional parasitosis (DP) is a rare psychiatric disorder, predominantly observed in middle aged and elderly patients. It can manifest itself as an isolated delusional disorder (primary DP), as a symptom of another psychiatric disorder or as an organic or toxic psychosis. The typical antipsychotic pimozide was traditionally considered to be the gold standard for treating DP. Compared with pimozide, atypical antipsychotics have many advantages in terms of tolerability, but their effectiveness has only been shown in a few case reports, which do not differentiate between primary and other forms of DP. We present the case of a 77-year-old woman with primary DP who responded markedly to the atypical antipsychotic olanzapine (2.5 mg daily). She was treated in a psychiatric outpatient department with a follow-up period of 3.5 years. This is the first report of a successful olanzapine mono-therapy in primary DP in such a setting and the longest follow-up period ever reported. The need for maintenance treatment was demonstrated. Olanzapine in age-adapted doses should be considered as an alternative treatment. This paper also provides a review of all published cases in which primary DP was treated with atypical antipsychotics.

Topics: Aged; Antipsychotic Agents; Benzodiazepines; Delusions; Ectoparasitic Infestations; Female; Humans; Olanzapine; Pruritus; Self-Injurious Behavior; Treatment Outcome

The case of a 73-year-old male with delusions of parasitosis (DP) is presented. He complained about severe itching of the limbs and the genital region as well as abnormal body and pubic hair that he believed to be parasites. The symptoms occurred over the course of several years together with severe heart diseases (New York Heart Association class III, atrial fibrillation, tricuspid regurgitation) and chronic edema of the lower leg. The pruritus was also based on chronic, self-induced skin lesions due to aggressive disinfection and tearing out of body hair. After ruling out true infection, a multimodal DP therapy was initiated. Instead of the standard neuroleptic drug pimozide, olanzapine was used because of its better tolerability in patients with increased cardiac risk (i.e., borderline prolonged QTc time). At discharge, the DP had partially remitted. Substantial improvement in the heart and skin diseases under specific treatment contributed substantially to the success of the therapeutic regimen. This case hints at (1) the effectiveness of olanzapine in DP and (2) the importance of general medical conditions in the therapeutic approach to DP.

Topics: Aged; Antipsychotic Agents; Benzodiazepines; Comorbidity; Delusions; Dementia, Vascular; Drug Interactions; Ectoparasitic Infestations; Electrocardiography; Heart Failure; Humans; Long QT Syndrome; Male; Olanzapine; Patient Care Team; Pirenzepine; Pruritus; Self-Injurious Behavior

Hypersensitivity syndrome is defined as a drug-induced complex of symptoms consisting of fever, rash, and internal organ involvement. The hypersensitivity syndrome is well recognized as being caused by anticonvulsants. Olanzapine is an atypical antipsychotic agent whose side effects include sedation, weight gain, and increased creatinine kinase and transaminase levels. To date, there have been no reports of hypersensitivity syndrome related to this drug. A 34-year-old man developed a severe generalized pruritic skin eruption, fever, eosinophilia, and toxic hepatitis 60 days after ingestion of olanzapine. After termination of olanzapine treatment, the fever resolved, the skin rash was reduced, eosinophil count was reduced to normal, and the transaminase levels were markedly reduced. Clinical features and the results of skin and liver biopsies indicated that the patient developed hypersensitivity syndrome caused by olanzapine.

Topics: Adult; Antipsychotic Agents; Benzodiazepines; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury; Diagnostic Errors; Drug Eruptions; Drug Hypersensitivity; Dyspnea; Eosinophilia; Fever; Humans; Male; Olanzapine; Pirenzepine; Pruritus; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Respiratory Insufficiency; Schizophrenia, Paranoid; Syndrome